Two Teams, No Balls

I watched the first match of the Women's World Cup tonight. I get annoyed watching women's football, because I feel that pointing out how bad a lot of it is will make me seem sexist, and since I believe it is bad whether I say it or not, I suppose that makes me fundamentally sexist and hence a Bad Person. But...while I'm not perfect and probably am sexist in many ways, a situation I think I'm slowly changing, I don't think this is one of the times I am being sexist - I think I'm being objective.
Of course a lot of women's football is bad. Men's football has a culture and a tradition of inspiring young boys up and down the country to play two or three times a day (I sometimes played four or five). Men's football has a professional structure that spans the globe and extends down multiple divisions in many countries. Women's football is so embryonic that it is still struggling to maintain one semi-professional league in England, the country from which football originated. With no tradition and no infrastructure, of course a lot of women's football is bad - a men's sport in the same situation would be no better. But things are improving.
Today I watched Germany, the defending champions, demolish Argentina 11-0. You could hear the embarrassment in the voice of the female co-commentator with every goal as she voiced her opinion that she hoped the score wouldn't get out of hand because it would be bad the image of the game. Why, though? When you get a team like Germany, who were genuinely skilful, and a team like Argentina, who were clearly not, the game should be one-sided. It's what would happen if the German men's team played the Isle of Mann.
If teams were crying when they got hurt, insulting each other's kits and failing to understand the offside rule then perhaps you could label the tournament 'embarrassing', because it would show that women can't play football, full stop. As it is, the teams from countries in which women's football is widely played appear to be much better than those in which it isn't, a scenario you would be foolish not to anticipate. I hope you've understood my logic or this last comment will seem very sexist and patronising indeed: at this rate, the Women's World Cup will actually be pretty good in a decade or two, but men who call it bad this year are like people who criticise a baby who can't yet do long division. The flip side of this is that women who say it's brilliant now are like people who watch their own baby spit up its last feed and shout "Look! My baby's doing long division!". Or something. Hope that made sense.