In the USA womens football, or soccer as they prefer to call it, is a huge national sport, a stark contrast to the mens game which even despite the USA hosting the mens world cup in 1994 has continually struggled for support behind baseball, American football, basketball and even ice hockey.
Such is the success of women’s football in the USA that it has been reported that the USA womens football team will receive upwards of 3 million dollars each in sponsorship deals, contracts and bonuses should they win tonight.
With the current women’s world cup being hailed as a financial success and the women’s game in general beginning to grow in popularity worldwide then spare a thought for the Japanese team also known as the Nadeshiko, as the only reward the manager is hoping for should the Japanese team win are watches
Norio Sasaki the manger of the Japanese women’s football team said about the Japanese, “For the Nadeshiko it is not about money, it is about being on the pitch, being part of the World Cup” and then went on to say, “we have not talked about money. But now we have reached the final, maybe a watch; yes, a watch would be a nice thing”.
The women’s world cup final has just kicked off at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany and can be seen live on BBC 3. With the USA winning the last 25 matches between the two teams then the chance of a Japanese win and the bonus of watches seems unlikely but with Japan already exceeding all expections then as they say in football anything is possible.
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