INSIDE LISBON
written by katherine
My first impression of the World 7’s tournament (before I’ve even boarded my flight to Portugal) is that, well, I’m not really sure how to express it. For starters, they posted several graphics of each squad on their official account, and somehow managed to list at least five incorrect players on them. On the City graphic alone, two players not in attendance (Ayaka Yamashita and Katie Startup) were listed, and one player in attendance was not listed (Kerolin). Then, the pricing as a fan: I can understand the reasoning behind hosting it in the same city as the UEFA Women’s Champions League final (which kicks off the day after the tournament ends) but it has made flight and hotel prices extortionate. The only reason myself and Dan were able to attend is because we found a 130 pound flight to Faro: flights to Lisbon were 200 pounds or more at the time.
Anyways… let’s get started on day one.
City remained the only team to keep a clean sheet (with four goals scored)! In all honesty, the win was quite nice— given the small amount of City fans at the tournament, I’m pretty sure everyone felt relatively appreciated by the squad and staff. Not sure if there’s much to comment on in regards to how we played, but it was great to see players like Poppy Pritchard, Codie Thomas, and Aemu Oyama get minutes in (Aemu goal as well)!
To be honest, we were pretty distracted by the over exuberant DJ who played music during the matches. I don’t mind a tune after a goal, but the amount of music being played during Ajax v Bayern in particular became extremely annoying. Please do better, World 7’s. We’re here to watch football, not go to the local uni club.
No real commentary on any of the other matches: some interesting football and highlights from great players, but overall poor refereeing and pretty much just what you would expect from a brand like the World 7’s. Yes– a brand, not a competition. I think there were much better ways they could have gone about marketing this. But that’s not for me to decide, as I’m not equipped with a marketing degree and my only real experience in the field is as a consumer.
Okay, day two: we start after a well deserved lie in after the non-stop day before. Will our ears be tormented by a DJ who never knows when to stop? Probably, but let’s find out. We were involved in the first ever penalty shootout of the World Seven’s against Ajax, which we won! Then we went on to finish out the group against Bayern, who brought insane energy to the tournament. It would be a lie for me to say that I was mad about losing against them. This was an average day at the tournament, so I don’t have much else to comment on other than the really great burger I had between matches.
Moving on (to day three).
City play twice today to finish out the group stage, and all knockout rounds will be held on the final day of the tournament. To put a long story short: not our best showing. I was almost upset over it, but then I remembered that this is the World Seven’s and the most important part of this whole thing is that the players had fun in the sun. We lost to United and PSG, leaving us fourth in the tournament and a reported prize pot of 500,000 USD (40% of which went to players and staff in attendance). I also had the chance to speak with Jess Park today and give her some words of encouragement that lacked from City fans this season. She’s really such a lovely person.
I think my real, unsettled feeling here comes with the fact that Bayern Munich came away from this tournament with 2.5 million USD. I don’t think that’s bad, but I think it speaks volumes that Arsenal only won roughly 1.5 million USD with their victory in the Champions League final. I think UEFA need to do far better in terms of rewarding the winning team of such a huge competition.
Overall, I think our time at the tournament was good. We met some City fans who happened to be Inside followers, and they were honestly some of the most lovely people I’ve met via football (shoutout Imogen and Joy)! I also had the chance to speak with Nick, and he made sure to give Dan and I a wave and a smile before every match. This was a great opportunity for a lot of clubs to give their young players experience against senior sides, and vice versa. The players seemed to have enjoyed themselves, and it was virtually a paid holiday to play football. Dan keeps trying to convince me that we’ll go to the next tournament (Miami has been hinted at), so stay tuned.
