History has been made when North Korea became the first team to win the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup.
With many great matches and epic memories, this tournament will have an important part in women's football history. To summarize the tournament, let's have a look at some conclusions and thoughts.
Asian Dominance
A brief look at the tournament’s history graph shows that the Asian teams are the dominant ones. Asian teams played in every final, and only once the trophy lifted by a non-Asian team. If someone thinks that the old leading nations like the United States and Germany will retain their place as the women's football leader, both Japan and North Korea showed us that the future is bright for Asia women’s game.
The Asian powerhouses are here to stay, and it seems that no one could catch them again in a few years.
Better than the Boys
In this tournament, we saw once again that Venezuela women's team could do something that never was seen as possible – qualify for the World Cup. While the men's team considered as one of the worst teams in South America, the young girls qualified for their second consecutive tournament and finished in the fourth place, as they did two years ago. Deyna Castellanos is the talented generation leader who will soon try to reach the Women's World Cup for the first time.
If next year they will show just a bit of the quality they’ve prevailed in Jordan, it will be a lot easier than anyone could imagine.
Back to the Roots
Mexico knew that it would be hard to struggle with teams like the United States and Canada, so they had a new and original idea in recent years. The Mexicans looked for players among the Hispanic community inside the United States! Jacqueline Ovalle and Daniela Espinosa, both born in Mexico, now playing alongside with players Celina Torres and Kimberly Rodríguez, who brought some of their experience of playing in one of the successful women's football nations in the world.
The combination of American basics and Latin passion helped the Mexicans reach the quarter-finals for the first time, with an optimistic look for the future.
Develop
The host’s selection in many FIFA’s men tournaments can be suspicious, or worse, connected to corruption. The situation in the women's youth tournaments is completely different. Jordan, like the previous host, Costa Rica, doesn't have a reputation as a major women's football nation. Yet, both took the chance to make some serious change and develop the local women's game. Indeed, they are still far from being competitive at higher levels, but these tournaments can give a chance for women's football in Jordan, so do for the future hosts. These tournaments can make football more accessible for many girls, and it can give a chance to make their dreams come true. That’s good.
Nothing to Cover
Hosting women's football tournament in a Muslim country, especially when talking about an Arab country, could be a difficult task. From the first match, you could feel that women's can be equal and get the same respect as men in one field. When Jordan's Tasneem Abu-Rob and Rand Albustanji became the first players to wear head-scarfs in the official FIFA tournament, it was another moment to show the world that football is for everyone. Their heads were covered, but they have no reason to hide – they are women that represented their country in the World Cup.
The Stars of Tomorrow
Few players are worth mention: Ri Hae-yon (North Korea), Fuka Nagano (Japan), Lorena Navarro and Noelia Ramos (Spain), Deyna Castellanos (Venezuela), Giulia Gwinn (Germany), Jacqueline Ovalle (Mexico) and Gifty Acheampong (Ghana).
These players and many more may be the players that’ll lead women's football in the next years. These youngsters have dreams and hope like any other footballer in the world. With this kind of competition, they have the chance to make all of these into reality.
Next month, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup will kick off in Papua New Guinea.
After this tournament in Jordan, we can't wait for it!