Japan Wins FIFA Women's World Cup 2011

Image Source

I've been looking for this news in our local newspapers for over a week. For all of football or soccer's popularity worldwide, with FIFA saying 29 million women and girls are already playing football, it amazed and disappointed me that it didn't merit attention in local news. And I thought everybody is going gaga over the Azkals. Finally, today, in my regular major newspaper, it merited space. And rightly so; for all the drama and historical significance that happened in Germany, the host nation.

Its significance: Japan, drawing strength from the misery of the tsunami disaster back home, won its first ever Women's World Cup championship in its first ever finals appearance. They also became the first ever Asian nation to win the championship after beating the favored USA team in the finals, 3-1 on penalty shoot-out after coming from behind twice in a 2-2 stand-off after regulation and extra time.They haven't beaten an American team in 25 meetings before that. On its road to the finals, they made waves by shocking the heavily favored home team, Germany, 1-0 in the quarterfinals. Then they beat Sweden, 3-1 in the semis to arrange the historic finals match against two time champion US team.

Back in Japan, the Japanese people celebrated with utmost jubilance and joy, tv footages shown and special newspapers edition printed and given to people. For a while, it gave them inspiration and happiness, with the tsunami disaster occupying their minds for quite a while now. That was the pressure these Japanese ladies carried with them when they flew to Germany to participate in this 16-nation women's tournament. Before their game against Germany, the players were reportedly shown "images of the destruction to remind them of their higher purpose." Two of the players are actually working with the operator of the failed nuclear plants, TEPCO. And after every game, the players ran around the oval with  a banner that read, "To Our Friends Around The World- Thank You For Your Support." Such great gesture.

Last week, after our German visitor told me that Japan upset Germany, I've been glued to ESPN and Star Sports hoping to watch their telecast. Then, after hearing from CNN the results of the semis, I kept on switching to ESPN and Star Sports again and searched in the Internet for their final schedule. All I watched was another big event, the British Golf Open, which also made history, having its oldest champion for many years in the person of 42 year old Irishman, Darren Clarke. But this is another story.

Related story: Japan Shocks The World, Wins World Cup

Azkals Next Stop: Kuwait

The victory celebrations are not yet over but the grim reality of the tougher road ahead for our new found heroes, the Azkals (You may join the conversation about Azkals here.) , looms prominently just a few weeks from now. I would say Mongolia and Sri Lanka were lightweights and our twin victories were sort of a given. Mongolia's main sports I think is weightlifting and some amateur boxing while Sri Lanka, cricket, the national game of the Commonwealth countries. But Kuwait is far far different. Like all Middle East Arab countries, soccer is their passion and they play and can now even sort of match with European teams. If memory  serves me right, Kuwait has once qualified for the main draw of the FIFA World Cup. And this is indeed something.

The Azkals should be more in their tip-top shape for this "home and away" game. But the suspension of skipper Aly Borromeo  and Fil-German Stephan Schrock owing to the two yellow cards they earned each in the two games will definitely be a big blow to our cause. I felt then that they should have restrained with those fouls last Sunday since the game was already in our hands. Borromeo is a stalwart in our backcourt defense while Schrock is a gem of a midfielder who orchestrated the Azkals offense in their 2 game match against Sri Lanka. In soccer, the midfielder is basketball's point guard and that's how important he is to the team. We just hope the reported replacement, Fil-Danish Jerry Lucena and Fil-Icelandic Ray Johnson will more than be able to fill in his shoes. But these two have not played yet with the team and we haveto see their prowess and most of all, their coordination with their teammates.

Come what may, the Azkals have already made history. Come July 28, we will again be trooping to Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, rain or shine and cheer to our hearts out for our team. For love of country and for love of football.