FOXBOROUGH - Now, the real World Cup begins. Now, the teams that belong here get to play among their peers. Now, it's go on or go home. Everybody else - the Mexicans, the Japanese, the Ghanaians, the Canadians and the rest of the no-hopers - is already at the airport.
The truth is, there aren't 16 world-class women's soccer teams. There are barely eight, which happens to be the size of the Olympic field. So, as everyone predicted, there were some hilarious first-round mismatches - US 7, Nigeria 1 ... Brazil 7, Mexico 1 ... China 7, Ghana 0 ... Germany 6, Mexico 0 ... Norway 7, Canada 1 ... Russia 5, Japan 0. This was women's ice hockey with corner kicks.
You could argue that FIFA, the international federation, was dreaming when it expanded the Cup field from 12 to 16 this time. You also could argue that FIFA was visionary. If the future of football is feminine, as president Sepp Blatter says, more countries need to be involved at the world level. If that means a bunch of 7-1 laughers, such is the price of progress.
Unlike men's soccer, which has been a mature global sport for at least half a century, the women's game progresses quickly. The Brazilians scored one goal in the 1991 Cup. This time, they won their group and likely will play the Americans in the semifinals. The North Koreans never had qualified for the tournament and rarely play outside Asia. But they beat Denmark, should have drawn with Nigeria, and hung with the Americans for more than an hour last night. Ghana tied Australia. The Italians drew with the Germans. None of that would have happened four years ago. ''I said there would be some lopsided matches, but I said there would also be some upsets,'' said US coach Tony DiCicco.
The learning curve at this level is painful but rapid. The Mexicans, who cobbled a team together and qualified on a shoestring, were hammered in their first two matches. But they held the Italians to 2-0 here yesterday. ''It was like going from kindergarten to the university level,'' concluded coach Leonardo Cuellar. ''But we needed the experience.''
They also needed a benchmark to take home with them to convince their grudging federation that better organization and more money are needed if the Mexicans want to get their women to anywhere near where their men are.
''You cannot go to the World Cup without a national team,'' Cuellar said. ''You cannot go recruiting players from the streets and bringing some from abroad. They must take care of the women's program. We are going to demand that.''
A handful of countries - the US, Norway, China, Germany, Sweden - have pumped resources into their women's teams for a decade or more. The Australians, who are hosting both the 2000 Olympics and the 2003 World Cup, have invested more than $1 million to make sure the Matildas are respectable. But most countries consider the women's game an amusing curiosity at best.
The Nigerians, who have played in all three Cups, still have to fight old husbands' tales that playing soccer will keep women from having babies. ''My girls are strong, but they need more exposure,'' said coach Ismaila Mabo. ''When we get back to Nigeria we will mount pressure on our government to see that we get more for the next World Cup.''
For the Americans and Norwegians and Chinese, the Cup is about winning. For almost everybody else, it's about merely getting on the radar screen back home. The Italians finished sixth in 1991, didn't qualify last time, and vanished from sight. They had to get back on the global stage to become visible again. ''At least back home we've been getting coverage now,'' said coach Carlo Facchin.
In England and the Netherlands, Argentina and Spain, where soccer is considered a man's game, nobody cared when the women didn't qualify. Across most of the world, that is normal. What is not normal is what has been happening in the States for the past 10 days - enthusiastic crowds of 79,000 and 65,000 and 50,000 paying top dollar to watch females kick a ball around.
The Italians and Australians and Ghanaians have been astounded by what they've seen here. Not merely by the crowds and the five-deep rows of autograph seekers and the extensive newspaper and magazine coverage, but by the TV ads. Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan portrayed as athletic and social equals sends a powerful message to women who come from countries where basic rights for females, much less a competitive soccer team, are still a distant dream.
The countries that take women's soccer - and by extension, women - seriously are still here playing. The rest are headed home to preach the gospel to the unconverted. ''I'm hoping the Italians will take a good example from this,'' forward Patrizia Panico said.
