By ELIZABETH MARTINEZ
The Women’s World Cup presented by the International Association of Football Federation (FIFA) is back and better than ever!
FIFA was established on May 21, 1904 and the first women’s tournament was held in 1991. Hosting the tournament every four years since then, the most elite women’s football teams gather to compete for the World Cup-– the most esteemed trophy in the world of the sport. Currently at the peak of the tournament, only four countries– Spain, Australia, Sweden, and England– remain out of the 32 that started. . Something interesting about these games is that one team won the most Women’s World Cup titles, with four championships in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019. Sadly, the USA team lost in round 16 of the games. A world record has been broken in the tournament, a 16 year old Casey Phair has entered the field. I can’t wait to see what she brings to the game!
Although South Korea is already out of the World Cup, it did not stop Casey Phair, the youngest athlete in Men’s and Women’s World Cup history, from catching the eyes of millions around the world. The South Korean football star played in this year’s FIFA world cup. With an American father and a Korean mother, she first trained in the U.S but shortly after started to train with South Korea. She wanted to play for the U.S but ultimately decided to stick with the South Korea team. Phair plays forward on the field, so she is a striker who tries to shoot goals. She plays her position very well for only being 16 years old. She grabbed the attention of senior selectors when she netted five goals in two Asian Cup qualifiers for South Korea in the U17 group. Another time was when she started as a substitute in a Group H game against Colombia in Sydney, but with about 12 minutes left in the game she got put in. That day Columbia won 2-0. She is the second player to be one of the youngest players in the tournament. In 1999, there was another player who also turned 16 and went to play in the world cup, but Phairis broke it by being 16 years and 25 days.
Phair is just an inspiration to everyone. Especially to those young girls watching from home. She showed everybody that you’re not too young to achieve your goals.
