Vivianne Miedema Lets Her Goals Do the Talking

That is the kind of following that Arsenal, despites decades of women’s soccer success, has yet to claim. When the team played Chelsea last month, it endured a 4-1 defeat in front of a capacity crowd, arguably drawn by Chelsea’s latest signing, Sam Kerr. When the teams meet again on Saturday, in the annual W.S.L. Cup final, the site will be the City Ground in Nottingham, not a grand stage like London’s Wembley Stadium.

“It’s a one-off situation and we need to be consistent,” Arsenal’s manager, Joe Montemurro, said of the big crowd against Chelsea in January. Fulfilling dreams that the team might one day play in the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal’s men’s team, will take work. “We need it to be a weekly scenario.”

Miedema sees that, and other gains for the women’s game, as a challenge for players like her.

“I think with the national team we are breaking barriers,” Miedema said. (The Dutch soccer federation recently announced the team would receive pay equivalent to the men’s squad starting in 2023). “I think it’s too easy to say right now every single country or club deserves equal pay, because we’re not there yet.”

But she was adamant that they do deserve better — some of her Dutch teammates, Miedema said, have struggled to pay their rent in the past — and that continued investments in women in the club and in international games would help close the gap.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/sports/soccer/vivianne-miedema.html