ADELAIDE, Australia — To hopscotch from a match Saturday night in Brisbane to a match Sunday night in Sydney to a match Monday night in Melbourne to a match Tuesday night in Adelaide yielded something beyond a batty tour of Australian coastal cities plus serial viewings of the Qantas airline safety instruction video. It lent a feeling of the churn of generations.
The sense of a fresh generation coming in like some Tasman Sea wave tore through these World Cup nights both off and on the pitch. It turned up in the crowds of Brazilians (Brisbane) and Colombians (Sydney) and Australians (Melbourne) whose loudness signaled an evolutionary respect for the female athlete, and it turned up in the you’re-kidding performances of people with ages such as 18, 20 and 21.