The Boca Juniors women’s soccer team on Saturday hammered Lanus 5-0 in Buenos Aires’ La Bombonera in a landmark game that was the first time an official women’s tournament match was played in the legendary stadium.
The game, held prior to a men’s matchup of the Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo, was highly anticipated as it came a day after International Women’s Day and amid the rising force of Argentina’s feminist movement, which has been holding marches against gender violence under the slogan “Not One Less.”
Women’s soccer in Argentina is still played by amateur athletes who get little to no money and one player, Macarena Sanchez, recently took legal action against her club and the Argentine soccer federation in an effort to gain professional status.
Photo: AFP
The case could set a precedent in a nation where soccer is still seen as a game for men.
On Saturday, La Bombonera, one of South America’s most famous soccer venues, opened 30 minutes before the start of the women’s match and, when the teams took the field, a handful of Boca Juniors fans received the players with the same song they would sing to the men: “Boca, my good friend, we will be with you this campaign again.”
The big stage did not intimidate the Boca women. Nine minutes into the match, midfielder Camila Gomez Ares threaded a pass to forward Yamila Rodriguez, who knocked the ball into the Lanus’ goal with her left foot.
“Thousands of things crossed my mind. I didn’t know if I should follow the play or look at the people. I’m not going to forget this feeling,” Rodriguez said.
“Playing this soccer with these people shows that women’s soccer can do it,” she added.
With some of the male players watching the game from the entrance tunnel, Noelia Espindola later headed in Boca’s second goal.
“It’s worth it because of everything we went through and lived through to get here,” said Fabiana Vallejos, who scored in the 61st minute.
In neighboring Chile, women’s soccer is also amateur. Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are among regional countries that have professional leagues, but there is still prejudice and ignorance to overcome.
Argentina’s women’s national team has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 12 years, but even the national team’s players have struggled financially. They went on strike in 2017 after their stipends of about US$10 went unpaid.
The female players were also angered when Adidas, the brand that sponsors a few members of the national teams of both genders, unveiled the new shirt for last year’s Women’s Copa America with models rather than players.
“Girls from other clubs wrote us and told us to take advantage of this opportunity, and hopefully others will get it because it is something indescribable,” Vallejos said of Saturday’s game in La Bombonera.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but