news

It's the biggest event in the world right now - and you haven't heard about it.

 

Australia is in the top 10 in the world – but we’re not talking about it…

You’ve probably heard about the recent scandal surrounding FIFA boss, Sepp Blatter who has been accused of and investigated for corruption. You probably know he’s resigned from his head honcho position in the international soccer league.

You may also have heard about the recent announcement that soccer star great, Lionel Messi is facing a trial (with his father) for $4.6 million in tax fraud. And you’ve probably heard a few whispers of more scandals and speculations surrounding the international soccer.

For more on the FIFA scandal: The FIFA president who resigned is also a racist, sexist homophobe.

But what you probably haven’t heard about – what very few people are reporting on or giving air time to – is one of Australia’s best teams playing on the world stage right now, representing their country and making us Aussies proud. You probably haven’t heard about the many teams from around the globe stepping up with their best players, playing tough games and giving FIFA a good name – showing us (as spectators) exactly what it means to play the sport.

Everyone: The FIFA Women’s World Cup is on in Canada. And we’re playing like superstars. So well, that overnight the Matilda’s squad have taken home a 2-0 win over Nigeria.

The Aussie girls are making us proud. Image via @lauraalleway Instagram.

You may not have heard that one of Australia’s greatest soccer players just competed in her 100th ‘A’ international game for Australia – a feat only matched by Australian soccer legend,  Tim Cahill. You may not even know her name – Lisa De Vanna – she is co-captain of the Westfield Matildas who are playing in the FIFA World Cup right now. De Vanna made her Matildas debut in 2004 and this is her third FIFA Women’s World Cup campaign. She’s 30 years old and has scored 36 goals in her 100 games – including an amazing shot against the US last Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT

For more on Australia’s top team: They’ve won 7 consecutive world cup events. 

“To finally make it to 100, that’s a big big milestone. It’s hard to focus on the 100 cap when you’ve got such a big game,” she said.

Laura De Vanna in action.

“This is your moment and you need to believe in yourself because you have dedicated five months for this moment, so the doors will open if you perform well,” she said as a message to the women in the league.

For Australia’s game against the US you probably weren’t aware that the Winnipeg stadium they were playing in was completely sold out. 31, 148 people watched as  Australia’s women proved they could match their opponents while the majority of the crowd were barracking for the other team.

In the fifth minute of the match, defender Laura Alleway took a bad knock to the hip but didn’t let that stop her from playing – and playing well. She showed a lot of strength against the American captain, Abby Wambach.

Laura Alleway in action.

“Laura Alleway Played a fantastic game. She actually hurt her hip in the fifth minute in a challenge with Wombach when she crunched to the ground and battled her way through that…You saw her limping around for a while there. To have the heart and the spirit to play for 70 minutes with a corked hip was really brave…For her to continue on despite being in a fair bit of pain was a tremendous effort,” Matildas coach, Alen Stajcic said.

ADVERTISEMENT

You also may not have heard about the Australians who made it in to the Top 50 Players at the World Cup, according to bleacher report. Katrina Gorry was ranked number 39 – she’s a young gun who won the AFC’s Women’s Player of the Year award last year. The other player was Lisa De Vanna who came in at number 34, for reasons I’ve listed above.

Coach, Alen Stajcic.

You probably don’t know that our women’s soccer team – the Westfield Matildas – are ranked 10th in the world.

For more soccer players you should know: You need to get to know Australian soccer champ, Caitlin Munoz.

And lastly you might not realise that all the matches from the FIFA Women’s World Cup are live on SBS ONE and SBS HD (and online). It’s a first for the Women’s World Cup and is a great achievement for our players.

These women have worked extremely hard to be where they are today. They are making our country proud by representing green and gold at the FIFA World Cup. And yet, we’re not talking about them. Where not writing about them. We’re not watching them.

Why not?

ADVERTISEMENT

Because they’re women? Because we don’t know enough about them? Because we’re getting flooded with soccer scandal coverage instead? Whatever the reason we need to change it, because these women are a team of Australia’s best athletes and we should be cheering them on.

And in other sporting news this week…

The Australian Women’s Waterpolo team, The Stingers have beaten China in the second match of the FINA World League Super Final. The Stingers beat the home team 10 – 5 in their second round robin game. The victory comes just a day after Australia beat Russia 8 – 4 in their first game of the tournament. Keep up the good work ladies.

Fifteen Australian weightlifters have been selected for the 2015 Pacific Games. They’ve been selected to compete in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea in July. It is an opportunity to provide a gateway to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. The team that’s been selected includes Commonwealth Games athlete Malek Chamoun and Erika Ropati-Frost (nee Yamasaki). Good luck to the team going over.

Australia have won their first world beach medal since 2007 in Croatia this week. Beach volleyballers Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy won a bronze medal at the World Tour event in Croatia. It’s a huge feat – being the first medal Australia has won at a senior international level since 2007. The duo won against Canada at the Porec Open. The score was 21-15, 21-17. Congratulations to them both.