Pinned
By whatever scale you choose to measure, this has been the largest Women’s World Cup in history: breadth of entrants, depth of talent, height of achievement, volume of observers, width of impact. Now, though, that amounts to nothing more than the wake. All that’s left is this.
By Sunday night in Australia, there will be a new women’s world champion. For the first time, that status will be bestowed on either England or Spain, both making their debuts in the final. Whichever way it falls, it will represent the advent of Europe — or, at least, the moneyed major leagues of Western Europe — as the game’s pre-eminent force.