Women's football has had a certain role in my mind for a long time. In a first space for years trying to claim the place they deserve in the world of football. Later, and being highly criticized by my children, complaining about the multiple demands for equalization with respect to men's soccer. According to them, I move in a boomer mentality.
But it's hard for me to watch a whole game. It is evident that the evolution is being very positive, but one's head moves at levels of intensity that it is difficult to find in a women's match. The differential with respect to men's soccer is abysmal. That is when you wonder how far women's football will go as a show compared to men's. Soccer is one of the toughest sports there is, the physical demand is maximum, it is a contact sport, with movements that go beyond the natural physiological ones due to the presence of an opponent. Where the power and neuromuscular response must be maximum.
The big debate at home has been whether there will come a time when the boomer will decide to turn on the television to watch a women's soccer game. My children's criticism is that I was not being fair, which surprises me, because they are not capable of turning on the TV to watch a women's soccer game either. But they established that for this inequality to decrease, time would have to pass, for women's football to take root as a school tradition, for it to become a true tradition and then things would continue to progress. The plot is well constructed, but it has always seemed more idyllic to me than anything else.
And then came the beating from Japan to Spain. I thought it was time to assess how far these soccer players were capable of carrying such a complex environment on their backs. Unexpected beating without response capacity, questioned coach, a dressing room with the possible intoxication that produces having expressed too much opinion. Too much shit for things to go well. Only some athletes who dressed from head to toe could turn it around.
And they did not turn it around, but a great romp. I turned on the TV to watch the replay of the game against Switzerland and I really enjoyed it. I was moved as an athlete to see the mental and soccer skills of Aitana Bonmatí, the determined and courageous response of Laia Codina, the defensive withdrawals of the entire team. Authentic football culture is directly proportional to the ability to understand the importance of withdrawals. I didn't care that the physical intensity was not that of men, because the mental intensity had nothing to envy.
Let them know that the boomer who writes this article last night was going to turn on the TV at 3 to watch the whole game. Who was going to say it?
