England’s 20-0 defeat of Latvia shows the women’s football problems that UEFA and FIFA have to solve

“Women’s soccer is a joke,” one reader tweeted. “A complete farce,” reads another.

After England beat Latvia 20-0 on Tuesday night, there are more matches like this.

It was the heaviest win ever in a Women’s World Cup qualifying match, breaking the record set just days earlier by Belgium, who had beaten Armenia 19-0.

Scores like this don’t do anyone well. People talk about how bad results like these are for the game and its image, but more importantly, they don’t provide much learning experience for any of the players or coaches involved.

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“You want competitive games and these are not competitive games,” England head coach Sarina Wiegman said after the team’s win.

“You want to develop well-developed countries, countries that already have, and countries that are not very far away (equivalent.) In every country, you want to develop girls’ games, but I don’t think the point number is good now is very high.

“I know it has the attention of the federations and UEFA and FIFA, and I think that’s good because I don’t think 20-0 is good for anyone’s development.”

These results have now attracted attention beyond those merely interested in women’s football. But what those quick to rate women’s games on social media don’t see is context.

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While Britain’s win is a record, it’s not too much of a shock when you consider the difference between the two nations.

Every player on the England team is professional footballer, and most are several years old. All but one of the 23 players on the team that play in the Women’s Super League, the league has just landed a broadcast deal worth around £7 million ($9.3 million) a season.

This is a country that has seen its player pool grow enormously over the past few years thanks to its growing visibility, national team success in major leagues and investment.

It is the complete opposite of Latvia.

This is also not the only result after a break with this type of subject. Belgium does not have the resources and investment like England, but the difference between Belgian and Armenian women’s football is clearly shown through 19 goals of the former famous player.

Northern Ireland, whose women’s team only qualified for the first major tournament earlier this year, beat Georgia 11-0. Armenia faced another blow by Norway, while the Estonian senior side lost 11-0 to England U23s.

FIFA and UEFA are both well aware of the situation, so what can they do?

The pre-qualification is a potential solution that many have touted recently, in both the men’s and women’s events. Former England striker Gary Lineker made a lot of calls after the Three Lions beat San Marino – and it was only a 5-0 result.

“We’ve certainly reached the stage where the lowest ranked countries should play against each other to qualify for the right to play at this level. It’s getting ridiculous,” he tweeted.

“If Lineker was born in Andorra, he couldn’t play against the big teams? Why? It’s a country, like England is a country,” Andorra international Ildefons Lima told Goal in response to the idea. Lineker’s idea.

“25 years ago, teams would play Iceland hoping to win. Now they’re playing Iceland and they’re a very good team.”

The benefits that lower ranked countries get from these games are important to note. Iceland’s men’s team is an example. North Macedonia, the team that qualified for this year’s Euro 2020, is another.

In women’s content, Northern Ireland has suffered heavy defeats against big teams in the past, but this year has secured a place at the European Women’s Championship in England next summer – the first major tournament. their ancestors.

The separation of the teams into the previous qualifiers made them not have the opportunity to compete with the elite and develop.

That doesn’t mean something doesn’t need to be changed. However, instead of making drastic changes, it is possible that FIFA and UEFA could look into some of the challenges facing these lower ranked countries.

This week, for example, England play Austria at lunchtime on Saturday. Austria is a team consisting mainly of professional players and, for some, the second-best team in that World Cup qualifier.

Then the Lionesses hosted Latvia on Tuesday night. Latvia is a team of part-time players and due to their full-time jobs many simply cannot come to the UK to play that game. Is it possible that the fixtures were not scheduled otherwise?

The same thing happened with Armenia in the loss to Belgium. Many players simply cannot attend the trip to Heverlee for a midweek game.

Some of these smaller countries will never reach the level of investment or resources as the giants of European football, but maybe some common sense can be applied to do some justice. while waiting for some to catch up a bit.

A few tweaks here and there could still see Latvia end an 8-0 loss, but with getting closer to a full squad and a little chance given to them, at least there’s a chance. larger for them to learn and benefit from.

Whatever the solution, surely UEFA and FIFA need to deal with the current situation. Absolutely no one benefited from the 20-0 result.