FIFA rejects criticism of Women’s World Cup ticketing plan despite empty seats

Madelen Janogy of Sweden celebrates

Abby Wambach defended the actions of the USWNT on Tuesday following a 13-0 win over Thailand in the Women's World Cup.

"The fact that they are here, they are competing and they are ready, we know that we have to be our best, and that's the challenge for us to not only identify our opponents but also make sure that we focus on ourselves", she added.

Sweden are in the same group here in France and they started their campaign with a 2-0 win over Chile in Rennes, but only after a long hold-up because of torrential rain which led to conditions deteriorating.

The U.S., the No. 1 ranked team in the world, did as expected against No. 34 Thailand, which is appearing in its second World Cup and had lost 12 of its past 13 matches.

France, the World Cup co-favorites along with the US, provided such a distraction on Friday night by laying down a marker in a 4-0 tournament-opening win over South Korea.

"When the tournament kicks off and you watch the game, your anticipation for the first match grows". "The players are obviously participating but it's just so exciting to be a part of it".

"In terms of France, a great first performance from them".

"The players will be absolutely devastated but we're a resilient group and I'm pretty confident we'll bounce back", said New Zealand coach Tom Sermanni.

Ellis was offered a chance to respond to the criticism and, as expected, took the high road on Monday. The Women's World Cup started on June 7 and is set to go on until July 7 with the USA playing Chile and Sweden in the upcoming weeks.


"[They have] some talented players, some technical players".

"I respect every team over here because I think sometimes it's incredibly hard to get here". It can be problematic to look too far ahead.
