It was with that one striking image, one muggy Friday night in Cali 13 months ago, that Colombia’s World Cup journey began. Fists clenched and arms thrust up into the night sky, the national team players belted out the national anthem before their opening qualifier against Paraguay with a message of resistance that was unequivocal in its demand for change. Powerful and defiant, it was the moment the women’s team had boldly, yet impudently, seized the stage.
A day earlier, football league chiefs had sparked outrage by scrapping a long-promised commitment for a domestic tournament during the second half of the year. “There’s just no interest,” Felipe Jaramillo, the president of the Colombian top division, said. “We can’t have a league with just a few teams.” That same old excuse, echoed from the male-dominated top of the women’s game, had been heard time and time again. The record needed to change.
