Episode 220: Women’s World Cup Special, Sam Kerr, Millie Bright, Olga Carmona

In this special episode, we reflect on the pivotal 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with soundbites with a little help from our friends including Olga Carmona, Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Katrina Gorry, Alex Chidiac, Tony Gustavsson, Millie Bright, Mary Earps, Georgia Stanway, Beth England, and Sarina Wiegman.

Time Stamps:
Sam Kerr - 13’
Olga Carmona - 20’
Caitlin Foord - 22
Katrina Gorry - 23:30’
Alex Chidiac - 25’
Tony Gustavsson - 29’
Millie Bright - 39’
Mary Earps - 41’
Georgia Stanway - 43’B
eth England - 45’
Sarina Wiegman - 48’

Episode Links

FIFA Women’s World Cup official website – https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023

Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr on WWFShow – https://wwfshow.com/2017/08/08/transitions/

More WWFShow Links:
Follow Women’s World Football Show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and our blog at wwfshowblog.com.

Listen to Women’s World Football Show on Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Spreaker, TuneIn Radio, Google Play, Castbox, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and direct from our website at www.WWFShow.com.

Original Broadcast Date: August 21, 2023

Women’s World Football Show is hosted, written, edited, and produced by Patty La Bella.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Yeah, I think for us thishas all probably been the most amazing four
weeks of our careers. I thinkjust not only what has happened on the
pitch, but what has happened offthe pitch has been amazing. You know,
when we first started at this WorldCup, we could have never dreamed
that this would happen. The waythe country has got behind us, the

(00:27):
way we've been playing, it's beenan amazing journey to be a part of.
So I think for us, youknow, right now we're all like,
wow, we cannot believe, youknow, what has happened in these
last four weeks. But I thinkin five, ten years time, we'll
really look back on this and belike, this was the most amazing four
weeks of our lives. And eventoday at training we were all a little
bit sad, you know, lasttraining session, last pre hub together,

(00:49):
last you know, it feels abit sad that it's over. Oh yes,
it's over, but certainly not forgottenas we and what was it has
to be one of the most excitingWomen's World Cups I've ever witnessed, the
world has ever witnessed, and somejust some great stories and a lot of
great experiences to kind of reflect on. Oh and by the way, that

(01:12):
was Australia's star forward, the captainSam Kerr, reflecting on this incredible journey
not only of the team, butalso just all the players and everyone involved
and the impact that this tournament has. We'll hear more sound pites from many
Australian players as well as some Englandplayers. We have a Spanish player and

(01:34):
a couple of coaches as well aswe do some reflecting ourselves on what,
like I said, was one ofthe most amazing Women's World Cup tournaments ever
on so many levels. So let'sget started. This is Women's World Football
Show. Hey everyone, welcome toepisode one twenty of Women's World Football Show.

(02:01):
I'm so glad you're here with me. I don't want to experience this
thing by myself, ohe Me anda couple a hundred thousand I don't know
millions of people around the world whoexperienced this great Women's World Cup as it
just ended. I just get thenwatching the final. Actually I recorded this

(02:21):
show twice because I recorded it rightafter the final, and then I went
back and listened to it. Iwas like, wow, I was like
overly hyped. I know, Iget super excited sometimes and I get overly
hyped, but I mean I waslike beyond overly hyped because that final between
England and Spain, Spain of coursewinning one nil on a great goal by
Olga Carmona. Congratulations to Spain,by the way, they had a terrific

(02:46):
tournament. I don't think anybody reallyexpected the things that they did under the
circumstances they were under. So justbig congratulations to them, and uh yeah,
just a great tournament overall. ButI was like super hyped on it,
and I was like, well,I need to calm down a little
bit. So I waited another dayto record this because I'm telling you,

(03:06):
still still kind of filling the buzza little bit, but not as you
know, not on a thousand degreesmore than I was. So but I
know you're feeling it too. Andwe always talk about, especially after like
a big tournament like this, wherewe're just watching soccer almost every day,
right and World Cup is definitely oneof those tournaments where we're just watching it
every day, and especially with itbeing in Australia, I think a lot

(03:30):
of us here in the Western Hemispheresaw a lot of the games not live
but like first thing in the morning, right, because some of the games
in my time zone were played atone am, three am in the morning,
and a little bit hard. Somegames I did get up for.
I did get up for USA Sweden. Of course I did get up for
the final, of course. Sothose are a few games that I that

(03:50):
I got up for. I'm prettymuch all of the Jamaica games because I
was so excited to see them.Yeah, so we didn't get to watch
it live, but I know we'vewatched so I so sometimes I would watch,
like, you know, games thattook place that like twenty hours before.
I would be watching the games juston recorded or the replays and stuff.
So yeah, so's it was alot. And I know we get

(04:11):
like this kind of a hangover afterbig tournaments, and I'm definitely feeling a
little bit of it. But youknow, I don't think it's going to
be so hard this time because westill have a lot of women's soccer going
on. Right we have the NWSLwsl A league is going to be starting,
and then plus for us here inthe Conquer Calf region and September we
have the inaugural edition of the ConkoCalf Gold Cup, the qualifiers which start

(04:35):
in September and go through September,October November, and then of course the
tournament begins in February of twenty twentyfour. So there's a lot of stuff
going on, and they're BLI plusall the other leagues going on around the
world, so the hangovers shouldn't beas bad as it has been in the
past. But again, just somany great stories coming out of the Women's

(04:57):
World Cup, so many great justplayers, worries, and I just you
know, I just don't know whereto start. And we do have a
lot of sound bites to play,so instead of me rambling on about it,
I mean, I don't even liketo hear myself rambalan for the most
part, which I do a lotof so apologies in advance, but it's
only because I'm so excited about thissternament. But we do have a lot

(05:17):
of sound bites to get to andmore than usual, so I want to
get to those and we'll talk moreabout the Women's World Cup. I'm trying
to get Sheryl downs On, ourfriend and editor at Beyond ninety over there
in Australia, just to get hertake on it. Because wow, what
a great vibe they created in Australiaand New Zealand. You know that just

(05:38):
really I think it really turned thecountry on its head as far as women's
football goes, and then plus inthe European countries as well. And I
think it was after USA got eliminatedand that that match against Sweden I heard
a lot of not real big women'ssoccer fans, but just regular people on
the streets saying, oh, I'vestopped paying attention to it. USA is

(06:00):
out, so I've stop paying attentionto it. So I'm the ratings in
the US probably dropped off, youknow a little bit from what we saw
in France. But I don't seehow I mean all the all the games
let a showcase for I mean,just a surprise element of this tournament,
like seeing Germany go out in thegroup stage and Brazil and Canada, you

(06:20):
know, all these teams were kindof hyping up a little bit and then
and then seeing the immersion of theselittle teams right like these the Moroccos and
Costa Rica and Haiti and Panama andI mean Jamaica getting out of the group
stage. That was their their goal, right to get out of the group
stage and just have a terrific,terrific tournament. So many players are like

(06:43):
standing in the spotlight there, especiallywhen when someone like Bunny Shaw goes down.
We just saw like the elevation ofthe of the team, right,
And we saw that with a lotof teams, right. We saw that
with just a lot of teams whereeither through injury or penalty, you know,
suspensions, we saw star players notplaying and just seeing the team and
other players step up, you know, to take onto that take on that

(07:06):
challenge was just so inspiring. Itreally shows the level of growth in the
game. I know we talk aboutthat a lot, that these teams are
just getting better, but the playersin the competition in those teams are getting
better. We always talk about thedepth of the US team, but the
depth of some of these other teamscoming up is just getting just as good.

(07:30):
Like I said, we saw thatfrom Jamaica, we saw that from
England, and of course from Australia, and Sam Kerr went down probably the
most talked about calf injury ever fromSam Kerr. But I mean, just
so many great things. And thenSpain, I mean Spain's story. We
could probably do a whole show onthat. Congratulations to the players because I
mean that is not an easy situation. You know, they're in the federation,

(07:55):
has been disruptive for them. Thatcoaching situation is unfortunate in it so
while not rooting for the federation,not rooting for the coach, but rooting
for the players because they put itout they put it all out there,
and they did that for a reason, not just to lift a trophy the
first time ever. By the way, Oh and by the way, as
far as Spain goes and hats offto their players, they're the only nation

(08:20):
that has won U seventeen, Utwenty and the senior Women's World Cup all
like in the same cycle. Right, They won U seventeen and you twenty
Women's World Cup s last year andthis year of course the women's the twenty
twenty three Women's World Cup champions.So holding all three titles that's unheard of.

(08:43):
But it really just goes to showyou the growth of the game there
in Spain and also just all overthe world. So congratulations to those players.
Now maybe they have a little leverage, right, we always talk about
that winning buys you leverage. It'sunfortunate you know, but that's just the
way the women's game is. Inorder for those voices to be heard,
usually it's because they've won something right, or they're they're they're winning, whether

(09:07):
it's major tournaments or you know,minor tournaments or whatever, or maybe their
star players are doing something great ontheir club league. It just takes that.
But you know, you can't turnaway from a World Cup championship.
That cup belongs to the players andnow hopefully they can use that for some
leverage and get what they want.Right, I'm telling you, this is

(09:28):
this Women's World Cup, I believe. And I've said this some of the
radio shows during this last month.I've been very fortunate to be invited on
a few shows, and I've beensaying this, this is a pivotal point
for women's soccer because this, youknow, and I've been around a while.
I've been to my fair share ofWomen's World Cups, and I've watched
more than a few. I justfeel that this one was different. I

(09:52):
just feel something's changing. Right.We saw the fall of the giants a
little bit in the rise of someof these lower ranked teams stars out of
players that we've never heard of.Are we heard, we hear very little
bit about in these lower ranked teamsand from countries that don't get their due

(10:13):
as far as like the federations go. Oh and so of course we have
to mention the African teams Nigeria andSouth Africa and Morocco as well, show
that they're more than just winning.They can win more than just their regional
tournaments, right, they can winagainst top tier teams and go toe to
toe with them. So that's that'sgreat to see. You know, We've

(10:33):
always been big fans of the Africanteams and so just great to see them
on this stage. But I reallyfeel like this tournament just really open people's
eyes to women's football that it's it'snot different. I mean it is different
in style here and there. Ithink Spain has provene that the women's team
can take the men's style and doyou know, big things with it as

(10:54):
well. So just a lot ofthings to learn from from this tournament and
take away from and I think Ithink the World Cup hangovers a little different.
But it's also a time I thinkfor reflecting and reflecting on what this
tournament is going to do and howit's going to help build women's football all
over the world. Hopefully we seea bump in the A League as well

(11:16):
too. But before we get tothe sound bites, one thing I wanted
to remind you is that these aresound bites from press conferences and mixed zones.
Big thanks to FIFA and also FootballAustralia for allowing us to use these.
This is our not exclusive interviews.They were conducted by reporters asking questions

(11:37):
and then the players and coaches answeringthem. I just edited them for easy
listening. So again thanks to FIFAand Football Australia for allowing us to use
these sound bites. So let's hearfrom our first one and let's start with
Australia. Right. We heard SamKuru in that intro, she had a
lot more to say, So let'shear from Sam Kerr, the captain of
the Matilda's and hear what her thoughtsfrom the tournament and her own experience.

(12:03):
So this is samper. I feelmassive relief that I've been able to step
onto the park, but I've hadso many people helped me get me to
where I am today, like playingtraining. Yeah, it was a bit
of a roller coaster for me tobe honest, Like I said, I've
never had a muscle injury, soI didn't know what I was feeling,
how long it was going to take. I picked Steph Katley's brain a million

(12:26):
times because she's had a few calfinjuries and kind of just tried to wrap
my head around it. But youknow, once we got to the knockout
stages, the girls did amazing andthen it was kind of just risk at
all. And I'm very lucky.We have an amazing medical team and support
staff and so many people around Australia, so many recovery centers have helped us
and helped me to be able torecover. But honestly, it's been amazing

(12:52):
to just be a part of thisjourney. Like if I hadn't have played
one minute, it still would havebeen in the best moment of my career
to be here, because what we'veachieved as a team is amazing and I'm
just really grateful that I could bea part of it. And at some
point in the tournament I was thinkingI might never play in this World Cup,
but I was lucky enough that Iwas able to get back and now
it's just you know, the icingon the cake, that I could step

(13:15):
on the park and help the girls. That feeling and that like ware winners
no matter what, is down tothe fans, like they have created that
they have made us feel like,you know, we have done something amazing
for them. And I've just youknow, walked down the street with Maca
just before and everyone was just sayingthank you, not you know, well
done that they normally do or greatgoal, just thank you, and me

(13:39):
and Maco were literally we got inthe cab on the way home, we're
laughing because we were like that wasso awkward, Like everyone was just coming
around us in the middle of QueenStreet more and like we've kind of just
were like, wow, that wasamazing. And I think the fans have
created that feeling by you know,what we've done for them and what they've
done for us. It has justbeen amazing. And I think, you

(14:00):
know, we talked about this beforethe World Cup that we want to leave
a legacy and have this moment talkedabout for ten twenty years, and I
think we have already done that.It really feels like we have brought the
nation together over football, which youknow, some people might have said we
were we We're crazy if we hadto said this was going to happen a
year ago. So it feels likewe've done something amazing for the country and

(14:24):
so many people are so grateful juston you know, the way we've brought
everyone together. So it is anamazing feeling, but there is definitely work
still to be done. Yeah,I think, you know, with Ellie,
people probably see how physically strong sheis, but she's mentally one of
the toughest kids I've ever met inmy life. She's an amazing part of
this team. And the good thingabout playing a team sport is it's never

(14:48):
one's one person's fault, or it'snever one person that made the team win.
And I think with our Ellie,our whole team I mean, Tony
probably to our whole team. Planprobably changes. She's such an amazing player
for us, and no one inour team for one second has ever thought
anything was Ellie's fault. And Idon't think Ellie thinks that, and I
don't think, you know, anyoneshould think that, because there's ninety minutes

(15:11):
in a football match, and Imean, if we talked about all the
mistakes, you know, we couldgo for we could go for days that's
football. But no, Ellie isa strong kid. She's an amazing person.
She's an amazing human on and offthe park. She's a big part
for us. So I mean shebounced back and the team got round her.
But she's a strong kid. Sheknows how to deal with her with
her things. About this team,I think, I don't know. I've

(15:35):
grown up with these girls, soI've always been in awe of them,
and I think Australia is just reallycaught on to the down to earth nature
that the team kind of shows,where no one's too big for their boots.
We all just work hard, wework for each other. We really
represent what I think Australians when theythink of Australian sport, what they know

(15:58):
hard working, never give up,and that's what all the girls show every
game, no matter what. AndI think people can really get on board
with that. And whenever I thinkof the great Australian athletes, that's what
I think of hard working. Ithink of you know those nights when I
used to stay up and watch LaytonHewitt at Winwooden, never giving up,
playing every point, and I thinkthat's what Australians love, and I think

(16:21):
that's what this team is all about, never giving up, having one another's
back, and just being down toearth at the end of it. I
think you've seen every single girl outthere on our team giving back to the
fans. And yeah, I thinkwe just have that uzzy spirit that you
can't really tell people about unless unlessyou see it, you know what it
is. And I think Layton Hewitt, Kathy Freeman, all these athletes that

(16:45):
you just want to get behind becauseof what they do and what they give
to the country, agreed to hearit from Sam. She's like, I
mean, I mean, what agreatI don't know. I think she's chilled
a lot of class, even withthe injury, because if her big star
goes down with an injury, youknow. And she was at the face
of the tournament, all right,She's the face of the Matilda's for sure,

(17:07):
But when this tournament hit, Ithink she was really the face.
And then she got that unfortunate injurymost talked about calf injury. Ever,
I think and then and it waswould have been easy for the team just
to get down or it would havebeen easy for her to get down right
and just ruin the atmosphere of thatthe Matilda's have worked so hard for.
But she didn't. You know,that's not her style she was. In

(17:29):
fact, I saw her like handingwater bottles out like she would a great
teammate. And Tony Gustafson, thehead coach at Australia, has something to
say about that. We'll hear morefrom him and more from the Australians in
a minute. But first I kindof, you know, I feel bad
because I don't have I don't haveany sound bites from from any Sweden players
yet. Most of the sound bitescame from press conferences and mixed own interviews

(17:52):
and they were you know, donemostly in Swedish, and the same with
the Spain. Spain players and coachesobviously, they they conducted their press conferences
and mixed owns in their in theirnative language, so it's always hard,
you know, to get those.This is an English speaking podcast, obviously,
so it's hard to get English speakinginterviews from those teams. But you

(18:15):
know what, it's unconventional, butI wanted to get a sound bite from
Olga Carmona and it is in Spanish, and if you don't speak Spanish you
can fast forward. It's the Beautyof podcast. Right, it's about a
two minute sound bite, so soyeah, So let's listen to the Golden
Ball winner and Women's World Cup champion, Olga Carmona talk about her feelings on

(18:40):
winning at the time of this interview, it didn't really quite sink in yet,
and her winning goal she talks aboutand also being a role model to
young kids. This is in Spanish, so let's hear from Olga see lariaga.
Okay three in the moment to stamfamiliastadiolebandolo. You want to get see

(19:07):
lamportant partido tan importante sloo portsteia norla FINALI I want condibo, see espera

(19:33):
geo estevao Berto you want to portand tralloooo cambermundo see cima la. But

(20:07):
when I get a little something forour Spanish listeners out there, I know
there's a lot of you out there. Hopefully you can kind of hear that
excitement in Olga's voice and congratulations againto her. All right, hopefully I

(20:27):
can get a Spanish player on whenthat speaks English, is comfortable speaking English?
I think most of them do speakEnglish. I think it's just it's
that comfortable comfortable nous, I guesscomfortable ability. See I can't even speak
English, what am I talking about? So let's keep going. Let's hear
more from the Australians and I've gota couple of sound bites from Caitlin Ford,

(20:49):
Alex Chidiac, Katrina Gori, andthen we'll hear from the head coach
as well. So let's let's startwith Caitlin Ford first and her reflections on
this amazing tournament. Yeah, Imean I don't really think we've had time
to reflect on obviously the broader impactthat we've had. I guess for us
in this moment, yeah, fourthin the world, but I guess it's

(21:11):
just disappointing to not finish the tournamentwith something around our neck. We feel
like we deserved it and we lefteverything out there every single game. But
yeah, just wasn't meant to be. No, I never would have imagined
for it to get to where ithas now, and yeah, it's absolutely
incredible. Again, I think it'shard for us to see exactly what has

(21:33):
happened in the country. Obviously we'rein our little bubble, but when you
see footage from places like fed Squaregoing absolute dessert with thousands of people.
It's incredible to know they're they're watchingus play, and yeah, it's just
insane. So we did want tochange the game here in the country,
and I think we've done that.So it's something we can be very proud
of. Great to hear from keatlAnd Ford had to run the show back.

(21:59):
Oh god, I don't even knowso many of these players we've had
on the show in the past,and I'll go through and I'll put those
I'll put the links to those showsand those interviews on our show notes,
so you can go back and listento them if you if you want to,
if you feel the need. It'sit's fun to go back and listen
to some of those old interviews.And I mean most of the time just
going back about their life, right, So if you want to know more

(22:19):
about them, that's it's a greatway to do it, straight from their
from their own words. So let'shear from Katrina Gory. She had an
interesting, really great tournament and shehad a message for the fans. So
let's hear from Katrina Gory, anotherformer guest. Yeah, I mean,
I still think we've got to beproud of what we've done. You know,

(22:42):
we've been through ups and downs inthe last couple of years for sure,
but we've always stuck together and weknew that we could and you know,
we could do well in this WorldCup. It's unfortunately that you know,
football's won and lost in ninety minutesand you're out of the final.
So yeah, it's a tough pillto swallow, but we've still going to
be proud of this team, thisnation, this World Cup. Yeah,

(23:03):
I mean, it's been so specialAustralia. You've been incredible no matter what
state we're in, no matter wherewe are, You've always made us,
you know, feel appreciated, feelproud to be a part of this nation
and the movement in football for Australiaforever. So thank you for all your
support and I hope you continue tosupport us. So Alex Chidiac is playing

(23:26):
for Racing Louisville here in the NWSL. You're just a fan favorite, I
think here. So I wanted tohear her thoughts on the tournament, and
I really liked what she had tosay because not only she talks about the
impact of the performance of the team, but also the impact that this event
will have on the A League whichI think is so important. So let's

(23:47):
hear from Alex Chidiac. No,I don't think that we ever could have
dreamt of leaving this kind of impact. You know, we've we've seen it
stage after stage in this tournament,even after a win, after a loss.
We've had that support all the waythrough and you just out in the
crowd tonight and all the posters,like the individual posters for every single player
out there. You know, wenever used to have that. Weever used
to have that kind of impact onthe Australian public and people knowing our names

(24:08):
and wanting to be involved and wantingto show their support, and you know,
I think, yeah, of courseit would have been lovely to win,
to win tonight and to be inthat final tomorrow as well, but
ultimately we've left something that's going tolast a lot longer than a trophy.
I mean, I'm hoping that offthe back of this, you know,
we have a whole bunch of theAustralian public go out to the A League
Women's competition and support their local clubsbecause that's where we all came from.

(24:30):
Every single player here has played inthat league and that's the league that that
got us to this point, sowe're very grateful for that. But to
have that support throughout the league,get that those crowds, it means a
lot to the players there, andyou know, it make people want to
want to come back. It willdraw more attention. Have internationals come as
well, I think, you know, to get the public kind of interested
in that as well would be amazing. Yeah, it's been wild. I

(24:52):
mean, I don't think I've everheard anything as loud as as our crowd.
In certain aspects, sometimes they're veryquiet. I think we need to
learn some chance, but no,it's been amazing. And singing the national
anthem with seventy five thousand people inthe crowd, it's unbelievable. So yeah,
I'm still shocked at what we've beenable to achieve. Interesting, right,

(25:12):
I was thinking about that a lottoo. It's like, how is
this tournament going to affect the ALeague. I hope we see those big
crowds come to the stadium and reallysupport not just the Aussie players, but
the international players that hopefully we'll comeback to the A League. We saw
a lot of international players going therein the early days in the W League,
but that's kind of tapered off asthe years have gone by and more

(25:34):
leagues have just kind of put more. More money has been put into leagues
all over the world and seems moreattractive to go to places like the WSL
or the NWSL, or Italy orGermany in places like that. So hopefully
we see a comeback in the ALeague. That would be awesome. So
so I'm glad to hear that Alexwas talking about that, and we'll see,

(25:57):
we'll talk more about that. SherylDowns if I can find her,
She's somewhere in Melbourne. I've gota find her. So, as we
know, little change of topic,but not really. Vladkowandnowski stepped down as
the head coach of US women's nationalteam. That was expected, I think
after that, you know, rounda sixteen departure, and Jill Ellis came

(26:22):
out and basically said Tony Gustafson's nameas far as a replacement goes. And
so of course the media wanted toask Tony Gustafson about that, and he
addressed it in this sound bite.But he also he also talks about Sam
Kerr and what we were talking aboutbefore about her impact on the team.
Even as she was injured, likenot bringing the team down, like lifting

(26:45):
the team up, and it reallylikes set up precedents. We saw that
and like so many of the Aussieplayers Hayley Rasso, I got mean,
Caitlin Ford. I just go downthe list of the players who stepped up,
Mary Fowler, who stepped up whenSam went down, and a lot
of that is attributed to Sam Cursjust her attitude and you know, wanting

(27:06):
to lift her team up. Andthe coach talks about that. He also
talks about the impact of Alana Kennedyand her contribution and a lot of other
players. I think is really importantSoundBite, and just the overall experience of
World Cup and the future of theMatilda's and like I said, also his
future in Australia. So let's hearfrom Tony Gustafsson. I want to credit
Sam here because just think about yourself. This has been the dream of hers

(27:29):
for so long, and then theday before the opening game of the World
Cup you get an injury and youdon't know if you're going to play at
all. It could be so devastatingthat you can bring a whole team down
because you can't handle your own emotions, but what Sam did in that moment
to be the best team that I'veever seen. It's everything about Sam as
a person and as a leader forthis team. The nity she gave,
the belief, she gave, thesupport she gave and at the same time

(27:51):
going through her toughest moment in hercareer. Possibly it's just it's all about
you, Sam. Fantastic In termsof the tournament on home soil here in
Australia, I've explained the tournament froma different side than you have and the
fans have, so I can wantto speak from a head coach perspective.
It's been world class in every aspect, whether it's training pictures, whether it's
the way we've been treated and welcome, whether it's traveling, whether it's the

(28:11):
pilot talking to us on the airplanewhere we're going to head off, whether
it's you know, everyone has beenso fantastic helping us out in every aspect.
It's like the red corp that I'vebeen rolled out for us to walk
on so we can focus yat onfootball. So from a head coach perspective,
world class. Alana is a goodexample of how hard these players work.

(28:32):
To be fit and ready for atournament. She, amongst a lot
of other players, have had avery tough club experience coming into this tournament
with injury and very little playing time. If you look at our team,
the amount of injuries we had leadinginto that precamp, it was a big
question mark whether it could even beselected to World up roster coming in with
injuries. Whether it was mayor Fildersback injury, whether it was Alana Kennedy,

(28:55):
whether it's Meek's foot surgery, kayaasl Let's just not members of them
that had very little playing time andinjury history. So then the players,
together with my Triple as M teamSports science and sports Medicine, I've done
a phenomenal work just to get themavailable, but then from being available to
play world class football at the worldstage is just so impressive. And Alanta
I've had maybe her best tournament Iwould say ever for a natural team.

(29:19):
She's been tremendous both defending the boxand attacking the box, being a double
nine for us, even though inall somewhere you don't like that, and
also on set place being massive.So yes, it was hard to not
have available getting that notice on lunchtimebefore the game. But then having a

(29:40):
player like Claire Polkinghorn with the experienceshe has and the mental strength she has
to step in. She hasn't starteda game of football another club of country
since April and start a semi finalin a World Cup and be able to
be composed and do that is massivein terms of the floor. With the
communication of Alanta, I leave thatto end. All I can say is
the coaches. I deal with whatI get told available or not available,

(30:02):
and then we go from there.And the players have been tremendous in terms
of adapting to what's been thrown atus, and there's been some curables this
tournament. Let me say we havea massive amount of work to do now
to capitalize on this. I thinkit's a massive achievement for these players considering
the resources. If you can compareto finance the financial resources in the top

(30:22):
ten ranked teams with how much weget return of investment to be able to
break into the top four in theworld, I think it's it's unique.
I think these players have in someway or we're achieved. If you look
at where the players played compared tothe top ten nations in terms of how
many players do we have in topteams in top leagues starting consistently. I've

(30:44):
said that before, like if youlook at rest Ameera and Alana our three
bench player in the city, allother players starts in England for example.
That's as one comparisation, I don'tsay as disrespect to the place, but
I think it's amazing to see thatthe players coming into this environment is performing
the football they do considering the littlegame time that they've had in clubs.
Look at a clear Hunt for exampleas well, with the limited experience he

(31:06):
has. But the next the nextthing now is investment, you know,
long term investment, not just thequick fix, because a lot of these
plays I think is going to playthe Olympics as well, So it's keeping
investing in these places and have alot of players knocking on the door wanted
to be part of it. Butthen now it's the long term investment to
really make sure we're benefit of thiscrossroad moment for women's football in this country.

(31:27):
Well, first of all, weknow how this business works, and
I think the loss today is probablygoing to influence some people's opinion about me
as a coach. It's right worksand it's it's fair from a broader perspective
if you look a couple of weeksahead, when when we do a review
like we always do in a knowFA is keeno making an in depth review
of the each tournament like they didof the Olympics, off the Asian Cup.

(31:48):
That will be made now as well, and that review, I think
we're going to learn a lot aboutme as a coach, about the team,
about preparation, about investment. WhatI can say is I love working
with this team. It resonates withme as a coach, their identity and
their why. And I've said itbefore, I don't see this as an
end of a journey. I seeas the beginning of a journey. But

(32:09):
I also want to be very clearthat I want to see investment now.
I really do. I want tosee investment, and I mean like real
investment that we're serious about what wedo first with Olympics. I think a
lot of these players are keen onstaying for another major tournament together. I
have no signals for any players aboutretirement or anything, and we have a

(32:30):
good mix about experience and young players. In that sense, I think it
can be an advantage as well.To have some continuity in a roster going
from one tournament to another. It'sa very short turnaround with a few windows
and few days to prepare with qualifierscoming up. But I also ordered some
exciting players knocking on the door.If it look at extended roster we have
before we selected, it was toughto keep some of those players out,

(32:51):
So I hope they keep knocking onthe door and make those decisions difficult.
But I'm excited about the Olympics.I really am very excited. But we
can't jump ahead and think we're goingto be there because we have a qualifiers
first to deal with, so weneed to focus on one step at a
time. When it comes to investment, there's some very interesting documents, aren't
there, Everything from eleven Principles tothe Gap Report to the Legacy Document.
There's people that knows more about footballand is come to than I do when

(33:15):
it comes to resources, how theyshould be used best possible way. There's
some key areas that is interested.I think one is obviously the grass root.
The more players that play, thebetter place we will get. The
more player that stays and stay longerin the game, the better place we
will have. Facilities is definitely akey area as well as grass and facilities.
Myself is working in the high performancespace, so obviously I'm going to

(33:37):
be passionate about the high performance space, and we've ordered it done some major
change in investments since I came onboard. We now have a full time
goalkeeper code when I have a fulltime fist year. We now have a
full time sports scientist that didn't existwhen I came on board. And then
there's another space I'm passionate about,and that's the U twenty three space,
that gap that we have from theyouth natural team to the seor national team.

(33:58):
I think we need a massive investmentin that space because we've seen some
plays coming through with that. Thestep has been too big to go from
the youth national team up to seeinga national team. In that middle step
in between has to be invested in. That's just a few areas, but
today a bit too emotional to beclear and show up in the answer.
But I'm looking forward to discuss it, debate it, and come up hopefully

(34:20):
with the federation having a very clearidea how we can best to use the
resources move forward. So yeah,so very interesting. I see him staying
around right through the Olympics even evenmore so, I mean, I don't
know where's Laura Harvey's name like that, I really feel like, I mean,
not that my opinion means anything,but I mean, Laura Harvey to
me, I feel should have hadthat job before Vladco, just because you'd

(34:44):
are you know, I mean,she'd been working in the US soccer system
ass had Vladco. You know,she was head coached for U twenty US
swim's national team now during the pandemic, so I didn't have like a lot
of big matches. But I don'tknow, Maybe US Soccer is going to
go in a different direction. KateMcGrath also left US Soccer, so there's
a little bit of a shake upthere. But we'll have to wait and

(35:04):
see what names drop. Maybe theywant to go with more international experience,
right, So we don't know,so we'll find out. We'll figure that
one out. And that's a topicfor another day. As we say,
let's take a quick break and thenwe come back, we'll hear from the
Lionesses Millie Bright, Mary Earps,Georgia Stanway and Beth England. Oh and

(35:24):
also Serena Wigman be back after thisshort break. All right, let's get
back into it. Hearing from thesegreat players, great head coaches. This

(35:46):
is what the tournament is all about. And again big thanks to FIFA and
Football Australia for allowing us to usethese sound bites. Appreciate it. I
have to say I had an Englandpick from the very beginning. I just
love what they did in the yearrows that the countries behind them, they
got new fans. WSL is juston fire right now and they have some

(36:07):
great stars. I kind of wavereda little bit, you know, when
they came into the tournament with someinjuries, but like I said, there's
just other players that step up whenthen injured, When injured players or players,
you know, suspended players, whateverthe case may be. When that
happens to a team and other playerscome in and step up and not just

(36:27):
step up, but do some amazingthings and put their name on the map,
you're like, oh, this teamis This is a team effort,
and we all know soccer is ateam effort. So just a big congratulations
to England. They're probably feeling alittle tear in their bearer this morning,
but at the end of the day, they did some They had some great,
great moments in this tournament, someones that will never forget. And

(36:50):
they had their chances right, theyhit a couple off the crossbar. We
saw great, Oh, Rachel Dale, they really tearing it up. I
mean you can just go down thelist on the Lioness's team as well,
but it's your friend, the greatdefender. Millie Bright her thoughts on the
final match and also she had amessage for the fans back home as well.
Yeah, I think the obviously isdisappointed. You know that the heartbreak

(37:14):
of almost feeling like you've failed,you've not done the ultimate goal. But
I think in this moment it's it'shard for any player to We always appreciate
any silverware, but ultimately we setour dreams on winning the whole thing.
We gave absolutely everything to do that, and yeah, we've just fell short.
It's small margins in football. Theyput the ball in the back of
the net. We didn't. Wecreated chances. Even when first half we

(37:36):
didn't have our best game, Wejust you know, couldn't get near him.
Second half made changes. I thinkchange in the shape was much better.
But yeah, I think which seemeda bit of time to reflect and
I think we're all proud initially,but I think we'll be even more proud
when we've you know, our timeto sell. I think second off,
we we definitely put everything out there, and I think the second off is
the performance that will will be mostproud of. And I think, you

(38:00):
know, winning the duels, beingaggressive, putting them on the back foot.
But yeah, looking back, wedid create chances, hit the ball,
keeping made some brilliant saves and it'sjust like I said, small margins
in football, and this is howcruel it can be. I think,
just as players were so competitive andultimately the end goal is to have the
gold one and the number one.But yeah, I think we are really

(38:22):
proud of our journey and what we'veachieved on and off the pitch, and
also our integrity who we are aspeople and players and what we stand for.
I think we've we've shown that throughoutthe whole tournament, and yeah,
hopefully we've done our nation proud.I'm pretty sure we have. And yeah,
just thanks to all the fans.We know what our nations about and
we know that they're always supporting us, so we really appreciate the belief and

(38:44):
yeah, they support that they giveus and the love that they show is
incredible, and this is why weplay. We play for the fans.
We played to make them proud,and we played for all the little kids
out there, boys and girls thatyou know, hopefully want to grow up
and be just like us. Sofun to watch that bad line of me.
I'm telling you, very very strong. Maybe they should have started with
the four back against Spain. Iguess. I guess head coach Serena Wiegman

(39:07):
is saying, yeah, we shouldhave went with the four back, but
you never know, this was Spain'stime, I think. So let's hear
from the goalkeeper, Mary Earps,Golden Glove winner of the tournament. She
had an amazing tournament, had apenalty save in that final match against Jenny
Ormosa. Just a great tournament forher. I hope that she can relax

(39:30):
a little bit now and kind oftake it all in and take in her
performance as a win. We knowMary Earps is a kind of player that
if the team doesn't win, shedoesn't win. But she had a great
tournament, and so let's hear fromMarry Earps her disappointment of course, and
then her thoughts on winning the GoldenGlove. I mean, I can't swear,

(39:52):
but I'm sure you can fill inthe blanks. Yeah, not great.
Realize that you've made a lot ofpeople, perhaps with the Thomas Lodgers,
Nike and that. No, Idon't think I really I don't think
that really hits right now, tobe honest, I think I think it
will in a couple of weeks.I hope that we can look back and
reflect. Like I know, fromyou know, football, I know,

(40:13):
to get to a World Cup finalsit is an incredible achievement. But right
now, we're just just disappointed.You know, we're competitors. We we
really came here for the gold medal, and yeah we were, we were,
we were so close to just fellshort. I think we've overcome a
lot of adversity to be in thisposition, to be honest with you.
So I'm really proud of the teamfor that, really proud of the girls,
the staff. We've overcome a lotto be here, and I think

(40:36):
there's more levels to go as well. Maybe maybe in a couple of weeks
I'll look back. I think it'shard right now. Like of course,
I'm proud, of course, I'mproud of that achievement. It's you know,
it's it's it's very hard to achieve. But I would I would trade
in part for for a gold medalany day. So yeah, I just
just cut it really that we fellshort. I mean, if I had

(40:57):
a team, I won't marry orup as my goal. Keep right,
She's so much passion, so muchpassion and just so much heart. I
mean all these players really and onall the thirty two teams, you have
to say, but England really oneof those teams that just wears their emotions
on their sleeves. Right. Youjust know what they're thinking, you know
what they're saying, you can readtheir lips and you can read their body

(41:20):
language. Another player had a greattournament with Georgia Stanway, and so let's
hear from Georgia reflecting on the accomplishmentsof the team. And yeah, we're
absolutely good. There's not really muchyou can say. Spain were very good,
especially in that first half that's wherethey kind of dominated us. But
I think we can be proud ofthe performance in the second half. We

(41:40):
can be proud of the last sevendays in total. And yeah, I
just hope that everybody get back athome realizes how difficult it is to get
to a World Cup final and topick up silver as Yeah, it's still
a proud moment and I'm sure,well he'll sink in once to do Sells.
I'm proud to be English, I'mproud to wear the badge, and
yeah, I just when they doessettles, of course, I think it

(42:04):
will be an even better feeling.But obviously to be so close and yeah,
miss out, it's really really difficult. And yeah, it's football,
like I said, but with theLionesses, we've been through situations. We'll
power through them. We'll yeah knockdown barriers, We'll be there to make
people proud and we'll continue to push. I think it's just football. It's

(42:25):
fine Margins, the way we playedin that second half, the way that
we were creating more chances, puttingthem under real pressure, and we're probably
just unlucky to not get something towardsthe end of it. But yeah,
there's not much you can say really. Obviously Serena has been in this situation
before, so she probably feels ittwice as much as us. But yeah,
I'm just happy to see my familyafter this, and yeah, be

(42:49):
able to go back to club andeverybody will go back individually and I'm sure
we'll just be ready to hit theground running and smash it as individuals back
club. I wanted to include thissound by from Beth England. She had
some great quality minutes in this tournamentand she got really emotional. Like I
said, this team that wears theiremotions on their sleeves and you can really

(43:10):
hear it in Beth England's voice.So let's hear from the twenty nine year
old forward Beth England obviously disappointed andsad, but it's mixed with pride because
look, we got to a WorldCup final. Oh god, I'm gonna
get emotional. This group of girlshas been amazing. I think that everyone

(43:34):
deserves such a proud part on theback because that's not just the twenty three
players out there, that's the staff, that's everyone involved in this and hopefully
we've still managed to do a nationproud I think I just want to say
thank you to everyone that's followed us, whether you've traveled out here, followed
us back home, You've been thereevery step of the way, every cake,
every tackle, every penalty, saythat Mary makes everything, And I

(43:55):
just want to say massive thank youto everyone and hopefully that but sorry,
we couldn't get there in the end. But I hope we've still done New
Brown. I just hope there's somany young girls out there that can just
see this and still think, lookthat that's my dream. I can still
achieve that. I hope that there'sstill more funding gets pumped into that make
sure that there's pathways, programs,any resources possible needed to make sure that

(44:15):
as a nation we continue to striveforward. I think tonight we made history
getting here, and I think thatwas for everyone past, present and future
to come that we've shown we cando it. We can get there,
but we just fell short at thelast hurdle. And hopefully that chance comes
around again and we get across theline next time. Yeah. I think

(44:36):
it'll take some time for the Lionessesto kind of be able to enjoy their
accomplishment in this tournament. I thinklosing really stung, and it's really hard
to interview players after a big lasslike this, you know, because you
want to be celebratory, you wantto say you guys had a great tournament,
but you know, in their heartof hearts, they're they're just dying

(44:57):
right, because they wanted that windso bad. This was their trophy,
this was their cup, and theylet it, you know, and in
their minds they let it slip away. But we didn't. We don't look
at it that way. Fans don'tlook at it that way. We think,
Man, what a great tournament,what a great accomplishment. You guys
made it into the final for thefirst time. It just wasn't your time,
but your time will come. AndSerena Wigman, the head coach of

(45:20):
England, also got kind of emotionalin a press conference. I had that
clip, but there's really she didn'treally say too much in it, even
though it did sound like she waskind of choking up a little bit.
So I'm gonna play this sound clipinstead, which was right after the match.
It's on field interview and I thinkbelieve it was probably conducted by one
of the TV stations or maybe ESPNEU or something. I don't know.

(45:44):
I don't want to give it attributionto to anybody because I'm not sure this
just came from FIFA, so ormaybe it was just a FIFA interview.
What do I know? I don'tI don't really know much. I guess,
Okay, maybe I am feeling thatball hang over here, but yeah,
Serena Wickman spoke in a postgame interview, and there's a big crowd in

(46:07):
the back. It's very loud.We can hear a lot of the hoopla
after the match, I'm sure,celebrations from Spain and things, so she's
kind of screaming, but you canstill hear the emotion in her voice and
in the pride I guess that shehas in this team and an excitement she
had for this tournament. So let'shear from the head coach, Serena Fickman.

(46:29):
I think everyone has seen an incrediblegame, very open game, both
teams who want to play football.Two different asks for us. I think
the first off we had to reallystruggled to have a press on the ball,
so we changed it. The secondtalk back to four three three.
I think we got momentum then,but then the tempo went out of the

(46:49):
game. So at Tobb we gotmomentum and then we have a penalty and
an injury with Alex. Yeah,I think after all, I think Spain
but was just a little bit betterthan we were today and they had a
great tournament. So yeah, congratsfor Spain. Yeah, you know,
of course it feels really Yeah,bads, now the very very disappoint you

(47:13):
go into the fine you want togive everything, you want to win the
final and then you lose it.That that happens in sports too. But
I think what we have done,how we have shown ourselves who we are,
how we want to play as ateam and overcoming so many challenges.
Uh, I think we can bevery proud of ourselves. Only it doesn't
feel that way at the moment.Yeah, I think that's a good sound

(47:37):
bite to end with, right,She's I've had that excitement getting hear that
horse hoarseness in her voice, likethis has been a long month for for
these teams who've gone, you know, like England and Spain and Australia and
Sweden that went the full distance.It's just a great, great accomplishment.
Hats off, like I said toAustralia, and wow, what a you

(47:59):
know what agree showing by Australia too. I mean, this is something I
really want to talk to Sheryl Down'sabout because Australia against Sweden. They lost
to Sweden two now in the semifinals. By the way, I guess I
should should have mentioned that at thebeginning. But I'm sure you all know
they seemed tired on the pitch,didn't They didn't. They seem really tired.
And I'm sure it's really hard fora host team to win a World

(48:19):
Cup because the excitement and the workand everything started for them, like two
years ago. We saw that withCanada in twenty fifteen, we saw it
with France in twenty nineteen. Ithink it's really hard for that host country
to win. And I really feltlike we saw a little bit of the
remnants of that against Sweden because theylooked tired, not just physically but probably

(48:40):
a little mentally too. They wantedto win, you know, and they
dug deep. I'm sure they gaveeverything they had, but you know,
it's just like it's like running thatmarathon and that that last mile is just
the usually the really the hardest,but you try to get yourself up for
it. So but yeah, butwe'll talk more about Australia. We'll talk
We'll be talking about this World Cup, I think for a long time to

(49:02):
come. It was just one ofthose memorable events, pivotal. I think
we're going to see some changes withsome federations. Hopefully will definitely be some
changes in the US system, whichwe'll talk about in the future, but
just an overall really good, excitingstage showcase seeing women's football, which we

(49:25):
all love, we follow, youknow, year after year after year,
but to see all these new fanscoming in and just hope that they stick
right the hope that they stay.And seeing so many men and boys in
the stands with their face painted andyou know, their chests painted, and
just coming out and supporting this gameand loving it for what it is,

(49:46):
you know, for It's a beautifulgame anyway you slice it. Whether men
are on the pitch or women areon the pitch, it's still beautiful.
And they bring their own styles.Each country brings their own styles. We
have new star to talk about,which we will be doing in future episodes,
of course, and just a greatexperience. I don't care if you
were there or if you were watchingfrom home. You have some stories and

(50:08):
some memorable moments that you'll never forget. And that's just part of it,
part of the reason why we celebrate, right why we celebrate this tournament because
it is the greatest tournament World Cup. You can't get any better. Than
that, and when we have moretournaments coming up, and we have the
Olympics, and like I said,we have some Conka calf stuff coming up

(50:29):
soon. It's just that you can'tbeat the World Cup. I don't know.
There is a lot of great thingsthat are going to come out of
this tournament, so it's an excitingtime. It's exciting to be a women's
football fan at this moment. Ithink I want to give a big thanks
and shout out to FIFA once againand Football Australia for allowing us to use

(50:50):
those sound bites. I appreciate itand I really hope that you enjoyed episode
two twenty of Women's World Football Show. I would love to hear your thoughts
on our sound It's from Let MeTake a Deep Breath, Sam Kerr,
Tony Gustafsson, Katrina Gory, CaitlinFord, Alex tittiac Olda Carmona Millie Bright,
Maryers, Georgia Stanway, Beth Englandand Sarena Wakeman. Feel free to

(51:14):
email me at Patty at wwfshow dotcom. I read all the emails and
I do my best to reply ina timely manner. If you did enjoy
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(51:37):
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(51:58):
some details. You may for relativelinks from this episode, visit our show
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World Football Show is hosted, written, edited and produced by Patti Labella.
That's me. Additional assistance for thisepisode by FIFA and Football Australia and thank

(52:21):
you, especially you for joining meon this exciting journey through women's football.
Stay strong, stay mindful, keeploving your heart. We'll see you all
next time.