'Sorry Becky Sauerbrunn': Kiwis unlikely to adopt US as 'second team' for FIFA Women's World Cup

The veteran defender, who led the United States to the 2019 World Cup title, wrote: “We are looking forward to amazing atmospheres at the stadiums, and while we know you will be cheering wildly for your beloved Football Ferns, we humbly hope that you will think of the USA as your ‘second favourite team’ in the tournament.”

Sauerbrunn might have been banking on the ‘Brazil effect’, the wave of support for the Brazilian men’s team among host nation fans at FIFA World Cup tournaments.

There is also always a fair smattering of All Black jerseys at rugby stadiums around the world when the three-time Rugby World Cup champions are in action.

The United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) are, in many ways, the Brazil and the All Blacks of world women’s football.

Even without Sauerbrunn - sidelined with a chronic foot injury - the United States are red-white-and-blue favourites to become the first nation in history to win a third consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup title.

They boast all-time greats such as forwards Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and rising star strikers Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman.

The Americans’ star power has already led to strong ticket sales for their Group E games, especially the encounter with the Netherlands in Wellington - a reprise of the 2019 World Cup final in France.

Young autograph hunters will be vying for the signatures of Morgan and co, but does that necessarily mean the star-studded USWNT will be Kiwis’ “second team?”

Not likely, according to Greg Ryan, Lincoln University proctor and a professor specialising in sports history.

“I think this is wishful thinking from Becky Sauerbrunn,’’ said Ryan, who co-authored Sport and New Zealanders: A History and is also managing editor of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

“My sense of many tournaments around the world is that people back an underdog and as the tournament progresses and the original underdog gets eliminated, they assess who’s left and back another underdog.

“I think of teams such as Afghanistan and Ireland at the Cricket World Cup, perhaps Japan or Georgia at the Rugby World Cup ... even Croatia at the 2018 men's football World Cup who were an experienced and very good team but still perceived by many as a bit different to the old powers of the game.”

Ryan said he “just don’t see any history of the host nation aligning itself with the well-resourced champion teams”.

“What people like to see in these events are upsets and a bit of unpredictability- as long as it doesn’t involve their own team.”

Ryan also said there was no “natural sporting affinity between us and the US. They’re not a rival from the former Empire. They’re not a Pacific neighbour. Politically, there's always been an element of anti-Americanism in New Zealand - too big, too brash etc.”

His own picks as “teams likely to attract a cult following’’ are two Caribbean teams playing their preliminaries in Australia - Haiti and Jamaica.

Former Football Fern Ali Grant seems to subscribe to the theory of backing a neighbour nation as a second team.

Grant won 37 caps from 1980 to 1989 and is remembered for scoring the only goal in the Ferns’ first and only victory over the United States in 1987.

Asked whether she would be supporting the US as her second team at the 2023 tournament, Grant said: “I’m not sure if all the other teams participating in New Zealand would appreciate New Zealanders only supporting the US.

“If the Football Ferns do not make it through pool play then I assume New Zealanders will support their team of choice. Kiwis enjoy watching sport and appreciate a good, hard game of football.’’

Grant said, “personally I will support the Football Ferns. Their challenge is to get through pool play.

“USA are a great team but there are also other very good teams who I will look forward to watching play.’’

Grant – who was the Ferns’ caretaker co-coach for two internationals in 2004 – has a soft spot for Australia’s Matildas despite the trans-Tasman rivalry.

“I would love to see Australia do well at home,’’ she said. “They have every chance of making the top four. If they make the final, then I will certainly support our Trans-Tasman cousins. “Having played against them in the 80s we had many good tussles but made some good friendships.

“I also am not long back from living in Melbourne for four years, so I have a bit of a connection with the country.

“In [supporting the Matildas as a second team], if I manage to help with Trans-Tasman relations then that's a good thing.”