LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I could write 800 words about basketball every day — and too often do.
Whenever I reach for a sports book to read, it's usually about baseball. Angell, Kahn, Halberstam, Bissinger, Boswell. I've read them all.
Football drives the American sports culture. It's not my favorite sport but it's probably yours.
I'm constantly amazed that ESPN feeds an audience eager to discuss the Vikings' back-up quarterback situation in the middle of April. Apparently, the NFL always moves the needle.
But the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament started its run in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday. More hype will percolate at 9 p.m. Friday when the United State opens defense of its back-to-back World Cup title against Vietnam. That match and many others will be televised on WDRB.
It's time to write about the U.S. women and why this World Cup matters more than the ones the Americans won in France in 2019 or the title they earned in Canada in 2015.
The local angle plays. Six women from Racing Louisville FC will compete in the World Cup, representing six countries.
WDRB has delivered stories on all six: Ary Borges (Brazil), Alex Chidiac (Australia), Savannah DeMelo (United States), Uchenna Kanu (Nigeria), Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa) and Wang Shuang (China).
Considering DeMelo is only the third player to make the American World Cup roster without ever appearing in a game for the U.S. national team, it will be fascinating to see how much playing time she earns from American coach Vlatko Andonovski.
DeMelo, a native Californian and former USC star, played her way on to the squad with eight goals and four assists for Racing this season. Vietnam is also making its World Cup debut.
The opener figures to be the most one-sided match on the American schedule, giving Andonovski his opportunity to play everybody.
The match projects as a perfect spot for DeMelo to show why many believe she has been the best player in the NWSL this season. (The U.S. will try to emerge as one of two teams from Group E, which also features a formidable team from The Netherlands and Portugal, like Vietnam, a World Cup newcomer.)
That said, when you get to the world stage, the story is not about who gets to participate. It's about who wins and who loses.
The story of this World Cup is that America could lose.
The U.S. has won four of the eight World Cups. The last time America failed to win the women's title was 2011. No country has won three consecutive men's or women's World Cup championships.
That drives interest and viewers.
America Wins! is an American World Cup headline. AMERICA LOSES!!!! Is an international World Cup headline, similar to how the howling begins any time an American men's basketball team face-plants on a prime international stage.
Although the U.S. remains the World Cup favorite (if you bet $100 on the Americans, you'll earn $250 if they deliver), England (+350), Germany (+650), Spain(+450), France (+1000) and host Austrailia (+1200) have developed formidable squads.
International confidence about a change at the top of the women's soccer pecking order has raged for several years. Canada, not the U.S., won the gold medal at the 2021 Olympics. America settled for bronze.
England is the reigning European champ. The English beat the U.S. national team last year. So did Spain. So did Germany.
Those teams see what many see: a splash of vulnerability created by turnover on the American roster. Carli Lloyd retired. Mallory Swanson, Becky Sauerbrunn, Catarina Macario and others are hurt.
It's sports. Age and injuries are always a storyline. The American women have overcome these issues in other tournaments. Other teams have injuries, too. England could be without three of its top players. Next woman up.
The insiders are convinced the next generation of U.S. stars are ready to command the stage. As the women's game has grown in popularity, so has the talent pool.
Forwards Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Alyssa Thompson are considered three of the most talented players America has developed in years.
They are also 22 (Smith), 21 (Rodman) and 18 (Thompson) and making their World Cup debuts — like DeMelo. America sees fresh energy. The rest of the world see vulnerability — and opportunity.
"By far, it's going to be the most competitive World Cup," American star Alex Morgan told Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times. "It's just getting increasingly competitive."
It does not figure to be an American cakewalk. And that's what makes it compelling.
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