AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Attendances at the Women’s World Cup are up nearly 30 per cent on 2019, FIFA said on Friday, declaring that the tournament in Australia and New Zealand had “exceeded expectations in many ways”.
Data provided by football’s governing body showed that after 48 matches so far, 1,222,839 fans had passed through the turnstiles.
That is a 29 percent increase compared to after 48 matches in France four years ago.
The average crowd at this World Cup — where the knockout stage begins on Saturday — is just over 25,000.
There have been sell-out crowds, but games have generally been better attended in Australia than New Zealand.
Under 7,000 watched Japan beat Costa Rica 2-0 in New Zealand’s Dunedin and there were swathes of empty seats.
More than 1,715,000 tickets have been sold in total so far, surpassing the tournament’s initial target of 1.3 million.
“I’m confident by the final we will have more than 1.9 million fans having walked through the stadium gates,” FIFA women’s football chief Sarai Bareman told AFP.
She added: “The tournament has been incredible so far, it has exceeded our expectations in many ways.”
Despite some games being behind TV paywalls, broadcast figures globally have also been “overwhelmingly positive”, she said.
The United States’ clash with the Netherlands was the most watched Women’s World Cup group stage game ever in America.
Bareman attributed the interest to growth in women’s football, which has seen the gap to the top teams close and matches become more competitive.
Last year’s European Championship runners-up Germany, Brazil, Italy and Olympic champions Canada were all turfed out in the group phase.
Morocco, Nigeria, Jamaica and South Africa instead progressed.
A goal post saved the United States from elimination at the Women’s World Cup last Tuesday.
Ana Capeta nearly scored for Portugal in stoppage time but her shot hit the left post and the United States escaped with a uninspiring 0-0 draw Tuesday night that got them through — just barely — to the knockout round.
The US won only one game in group play for the first time in tournament history, scoring just four goals over three games.
With the scoreless draw, the United States fell to second in the group behind the Netherlands and will head to Melbourne, Australia, for a round of 16 match on Sunday.
“We should have put some in the back of the net and we didn’t. We own that,” Alex Morgan said. “We’re not happy with the performance we put out there. But at the same time, we’re moving on.”
The Americans, the most successful team ever at the World Cup with four titles, have never been eliminated in the tournament’s group stage. But they looked shaky against the Portuguese, who were playing in their first World Cup.
“Obviously we want to play great and score a lot of goals, and we didn’t do that. We know that it can be better, and has to be better, moving forward,” said Megan Rapinoe, who came into the match in the second half as a substitute. “But ultimately, we’re on to the next round.”
The Portuguese players sobbed on the field after the final whistle after having come oh-so-so close to upsetting the mighty United States. Capeta’s shot about two minutes into stoppage time looked so good that her coaches started celebrating and the players on the bench jumped to their feet.
“I truly believed that the goal would be in that moment and I was starting to think, `What can I do to help my players if we’re winning 1-0?'” coach Francisco Neto said.
“What I said to the girls, I was very proud. Of course, they are very sad because we have huge expectations of ourselves.”
Lynn Williams, who started for the US for the first time in the tournament, had a chance on a header in the 14th minute but Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira smothered it. While the US controlled possession and had the better chances, the team could not finish and the game was scoreless at the break.
