Many people on the American University campus are enjoying the U.S. women’s success in this summer’s World Cup, but some are not paying close attention as the U.S. prepares for the final against Japan.
While multiple students and professors knew of Tuesday night’s game against Germany, some were unaware of the big semifinal showdown.
Carolyn Turkaly, 19, said that the U.S. Women are not getting enough attention despite their consistent success.
“It’s a structural problem,” Turkaly said. “People in sports are mostly men, so they’re biased.”
Turkaly, who does not have a television set, says she follows the results by reading Facebook and news articles about the matches.
Some Americans did not watch their country’s 2-0 semifinal win over Germany for different reasons.
Anila D’Mello, 25, says that she didn’t watch the game because she was busy and had her cousin in town. D’Mello claims that she watched the U.S.-Sweden match last month. She also believes that the men’s World Cup generated more interest from Americans than the women’s tournament.
“This happens across the board in sports,” D’Mello said. “People think that men are greater athletes, whether or not that’s true. There is also less funding in women’s sports.”
While the men have played their World Cups on grass, the women played this summer’s World Cup on artificial turf, which takes a toll on player’s bodies when they make contact with the ground.
Despite all of the people who aren’t paying attention to the women’s World Cup, there are many who watched Tuesday Night’s game.
Emily Davis says she enjoyed the match. “It was an exciting match to watch. We have a really good team,” Davis said.
Tanesha Singletary, a 23-year old grad student, also watched the U.S.’ victory. “It was a pleasant surprise,” Singletary said. Germany is ranked number one in the world by FIFA’s world rankings and was favored over the second-ranked United States.
Many people on the AU campus also said that soccer in general is a growing sport in our country and remain confident ahead of the big final on Sunday.
“Go USA. Yeah, we’re gonna win,” Turkaly said.