SheBelieves Cup: And Why You Should Cheer for the Underdog
It turns out that I’m a pretty big fan of the underdog. Lately I’ve been wondering why do I enjoy tormenting myself by cheering for a team that logically seems destined to lose?
When I dig deeper I realize that it’s a character trait, you see for me it’s the admiration I have for them because against all odds they thrive, they make life changing impacts for themselves and others! And I found out that amazing things can happen when you root for the underdog!
Even when I worked as a Manager at a big corporate company where things were predictable and people ran on autopilot most of the time, I found myself identifying the “little guys” and figuring out how to cheer them on. Helping out ‘the little guy’ motivated me and made me a better leader.
With this new realization about myself, I decided to look into the scientific reasons for why someone might like to cheer for the underdog rather than the obvious winner. What I discovered is that I’m certainly not alone!
So why do we love cheering for the underdog? Well there are a number of reasons, including hidden psychological motivations behind our love for the underdog. Since time immemorial we humans have always been drawn to stories like “David and Goliath”, Robin Hood, King Arthur, “Rocky 1, 2 and 3”, and — if you are from my generation — the “Karate Kid” Game of Thrones, and one of my new favorites “The Queen’s Gambit”. If we get into football, there are so many examples like historic wins such as Argentina vs England 1986 FIFA Men’s World Cup, even and in politics, we need not look further than Bernie Sanders and his famous mittens for an unexpected example of epic heroism.
For example in 1991, Jimmy Frazier and Eldon Snyder of Bowling Green State University published a paper “The Underdog Concept in Sport.” Their study demonstrated that more than 80% of people in that investigation said they would rather root for an underdog than a team that was heavily favored to win. Kenneth Michniewicz of Muhlenberg College hypothesized in his paper called The Attractive Underdog: When disadvantage Bolsters Attractiveness that perceiving someone as unfairly disadvantaged can motivate attributions of positive personal characteristics and, consequently, make them more attractive to us”.
Nadav P. Goldschmied & Joseph A. Vandello argued in their paper called The Future is Bright: The Underdog Label, Availability, and Optimism that we might be attracted to the little guy because we actually think they’re going to win — which we’re convinced of precisely because the odds are against them. Go figure!
Truth be told: the underdogs are winners in disguise.
Ok, so i If you haven’t gathered as to what this has to do with the SheBelives Cup and why you should be watching this tournament, let me explain how this Cup in itself is the underdog.
In 2016 this prestigious invitational four-team tournament was launched, it is held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March, (this year it will kick off on February 18th and end on Feb 24th, 2021) it will take place in Orlando Florida, at the Exploria Stadium, you see for the first 3 years it was contested by the same four teams: U.S., England, France, and Germany: In 2019 & 2021 Brazil, Japan, Spain and Canada have rotated into play. And this year, by way of Japan backing out, Argentina will also play. The problem I see is that only the best of the best teams in women’s football worldwide get invited, and therefore, only the elite are provided the opportunity to compete and thereby advance their game!
These teams get the chance to make themselves even better and grow exponentially by competing amongst themselves, which is why the same teams win the world Cup every four years. They actually take turns winning. The US won the world cup four times, Germany won it twice, Japan won it once, and Brazil was a runner up in 2007.
With that said, I still appreciate this tournament because it’s an American initiative meant to inspire and empower women and girls to achieve their goals in sport and beyond. They are committed to the initiative to grow Women’s Football globally. It’s women coming together to empower other women because if they don’t, then who will?
You see?…
Allow me to continue describing why you need to root for this underdog, as it is plagued with underdog stories and the odds are so stacked!!
First of all just the mere fact that this Cup is being held whilst the world is in the middle of a pandemic, which has created some controversy, because for example Japan has decided to drop off last minute due to COVID this being the biggest upset of the tournament so far, since they are extremely competitive. The other “upsets” are Germany, England and France who will not be participating for the first time since the inauguration in 2016.
The next big reason why you need to root for this underdog tournament is that if you have a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, a sister, a niece, an aunt, a girlfriend, a wife, a female teacher, or even a female friend you have every reason to show up and be a support to the SheBelieves Cup. Why? These remarkable women are working hard to open the path for so many young girls who dream of becoming professional athletes. Sponsors and clubs will begin to invest fairly in female athletes when larger audiences tune into their games and tournaments. Tuning in is the only hope to get women equal pay in sport. Consider this: In the U.S. The Women’s Football team has won 4 World Cups and still only makes ⅓ (at most) of the pay that the Men’s Football team makes. To add salt to the wound, FIFA awarded $30 million in prize money for the Women’s Tournament, while the Men’s Tournament had $400 million in prize money, more than ten times as much.
In that context imagine what a developing country would pay their women to play professionally. In some countries Women’s Football Isn’t even considered professional. Players receive no remuneration or support whatsoever to play. In fact, most women playing professional football in developing countries have full time jobs to support themselves and train only after their long work shifts are done. Talk about passion!
Last but not least Have you ever heard Albert Einstein’s famous quote: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” Well that couldn’t be truer for the Argentina’s Women’s Football team who were invited to the tournament last minute. Since Japan decided to withdraw their team due to COVID, Argentina was called up to participate. And they happily obliged. But not without a fair share of controversy because Argentina is ranked thirty first world wide!.
The fact that the Argentine Women’s Team is at the cup at all is Great News for Women’s Football. The Argentine League has only recently become professional. They are given far less financial resources and playtime than any of the other three teams that will be at the tournament. And that’s what makes them the true underdog in this tournament. Lamentably for Argentina, Head Coach Carlos Borello decided to exclude their number one player Estefanía Banini (ranked 11th in the world) Florencia Bonsegundo, Ruth Bravo and Belén Potassa, for speaking out about the poor conditions in which the women have to play, and the unacceptable way the coach treats them. Borello has been quoted saying “we want the women to play and keep their mouths shut”.
This Thursday the 18th despite all of this they will be facing their long life rival Brazil that quite honestly are better in every way, technically because they have more games and tournaments on them, they have more skill, also because their are at the helm of their new head coach Pia Sundhage, who coached the USA team from 2008 to 2012, helping the USA win Olympic gold in 2008 and 2012, as well as guiding the team to the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final. If that isn’t enough they have the same financial resources that the men do in Brazil, their Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) communicated in September, 2020 that the female professional football players representing the Brazilian national team will get the same pay as their male counterparts. Go Brazil!
If that wasn’t enough of a challenge the Argentine star goalie was held up in Spain due to protocols around COVID (she was positive a month ago, and do to tight restrictions in Spain her trip was cancelled) She was replaced Yanina Sosa, who tested positive for COVID on Feb 17th! and will not be able to play. Laurina Oliveros is to arrive from Argentina to replace her just in time for their first game.
At the end of the day, no matter what team you end up cheering for, tuning into The SheBelieves Cup is rooting the underdog.
Make herstory this year and cheer for the underdog!
