The Spanish Women’s team walked onto the field at Stadium Australia in Sydney on August 20, side-by-side with tournament favorites England. The two teams represented countries that stand at the epicenter of the soccer world, holding the two largest soccer leagues to exist, the Premier League and La Liga.
Almost halfway through the game, Spanish defender Olga Carmona struck a shot into the back of the net, scoring what would be the only goal of the final. Playing a dominating game, Spain held 58% possession of the ball and had 5 shots-on-target in comparison to England’s 3.
Although Spain held the command of the game, England’s power could not be denied. In the knockout round of the World Cup, England star Chloe Kelly kicked the game winning penalty shot to advance England to the quarter-finals. This penalty shot, however, was an astounding 69 mph, and was more powerful than any goal scored in the Premier League in the 2022-2023 season.
Spain, though ranked lower then England before the tournament started, was still one of the teams favored to win the Cup. They displayed control and dominance throughout the match and got a well deserved win, the first of its kind for the team.
More importantly, however, the Women’s World Cup is bigger than wins and loses, it’s an opportunity to shine a light on women in sports. The FIFA World Cup is known to unite the world around the beautiful game, no matter the ethnicity, age, race or gender. To give women that spotlight, to have the world unite, cheer and cry looking up to a group of women is an incredibly important event to help strive for equal rights.
Unfortunately, however, at the celebrations after Spain won the final, the president of Spain’s soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, gave a non-consensual kiss to Spanish player Jenni Hermoso. This was a reminder that even at the top of the women’s sports world, blatant disregard for consent by men is still an issue.
The Spanish women’s team has refused to play another match until Rubiales steps down. Women from every corner of the sports have shown their support for Hermoso, including U.S. soccer star Alex Morgan. At the time of this article, Rubiales has been suspended for 90 days, but insists that he refuses to step down.
This incident, which has made headlines around the world, has overshadowed the actual Spanish victory. This raises the question: can women ever actually win?
