The unpredictable approach to the action-packed football series goes off the rails in the final episode.
It remains difficult to close the gap with men’s football, however global women’s football has seen a clear rise in recent years. European competitions in particular have become more professional and the major media no longer stand aside when prestigious club and national team tournaments end. This certainly applies to the 2023 World Cup, for which the Orange women’s national team travels to Australia and New Zealand. Under Pressure: U.S. Women’s World Cup Team It focuses on the Netherlands’ most famous opponent in the group stage: the country that has won the previous two editions of the World Championship.
The title of the Netflix sports series doesn’t lie. Even in the lead-up to the departure, the pressure on the US women’s soccer team had reached a boiling point. under pressure It highlights and emphasizes the contrast between the American star team’s nearly unbeaten state (and the expectations that come with it) and the disastrous tournament that followed. Because the World Cup failed for the United States, these events were not a superficial celebration of the third title in a row, but rather a realistic picture of generations of the most prominent candidates to win the title anyway.
In this context, the game makers are concerned not only with sporting dishonesty and disillusionment among players, but also with the kinds of fringe issues that arise in the run-up to such a final tournament. How do reserves who are not sure where they stand in selection fare? How did the famous stars and the coach react when they were criticized in the American media? There is particular interest in Christy Moyes, who has had to accept a stand-in role but is in a relationship with Australian star (and thus rival) Sam Kerr.
Given the colorful makeup of the US national team (and thus the tournament’s disastrous proceedings), it is understandable that the tournament’s makers did not want to focus solely on football in the four tight circles. It is no coincidence that forwards Alex Morgan (with nearly ten million followers on Instagram) and Megan Rapinoe (with her rants against Donald Trump) have made a name for themselves off the field in no uncertain terms. Unfortunately, the uneven impact of this two-pronged approach leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the final episode.
First of all, it doesn’t help that the reconstruction of the decisive eighth final relies overly on the dramatic effect of slow-motion images, which are musically supported by Irish artist Hozier. Many viewers interested in a miniseries about women’s soccer have already followed the recent World Cup and watched one or more matches (including the match between the United States and the Netherlands); The prevailing tension cannot be overcome simply by playing the chord. Surprising new (camera) perspectives would have enhanced familiar images, but they are missing.
What’s often noticeable in the first three episodes is that the editing process is choppy: the filmmakers want to cram so much personal story into just three hours that the viewer doesn’t spend too much time in the company of one player. In the fourth episode, this flippant approach goes off the rails, when, after the dramatic elimination (after the penalty shootout against Sweden), the miniseries also wants to say something about topics that have not yet been discussed up to that point.
The so-called “kissing incident”, in which then-Spanish Federation president Luis Rubiales kissed a player on the mouth during an awards ceremony, has been widely reported by international media in recent months. There is also growing interest in an equal approach (and pay) to men’s and women’s football, a lobby that counts Morgan and Rapinoe as its leading champions. The problem is that the miniseries broaches these two topics in a hasty (and unnecessarily didactic) manner when there are only twenty minutes left to bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.
since under pressure Produced in collaboration with FIFA, the undersigned could not escape the impression that the hypocritical organization (the World Cup in Qatar has just ended, and Saudi Arabia is a thing of the future) wants to clear its alley with these coercive interventions. To begin with, the Rubiales case is not so much about the US Women’s Soccer Championship (it has already been axed), but it highlights the complacent role played by the Football Association as a moral arbiter.
Rubiales will be banned from playing any role in soccer until 2025. By then, women’s soccer will have become more professional and liberal, and American women will have their best chance of a glorious recovery at the Olympics in 2024. But this pressure, this damned pressure? This will also be as big as ever next summer.
Under Pressure: U.S. Women’s World Cup Team It can be seen on Netflix.
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