Playing for host nation New Zealand in the 2023 Women's World Cup will be a 'culmination of so many milestones' for Angel City FC standout Ali Riley.
. As captain of New Zealand, which is welcoming the world to its shores for one of the most important sporting events ever held there, she must keep a stiffer upper lip.“I will cry right now just thinking about that moment,” she said. “There’s the sights and the sounds and the smells and everything. But I can’t, I cannot, I will not cry. I’ll be so focused on the team and just really taking it all in.
How many people in her adopted homeland care is another question, however. There is little energy in the country’s largest city on the eve of the opening kickoff. Rainbow-colored World Cup banners flap from flagpoles along Queen Street, Auckland’s main commercial thoroughfare, but a block to either side the tournament presence ceases to exist.
World Cup tickets sales topped 1 million last month, according to FIFA, leaving the tournament on pace to break the attendance record for a standalone women’s sporting event. But only a quarter of those tickets were for the 29 games to be played in New Zealand, despite the fact the two-time reigning champion U.S. will play all three of its group games here. Last week FIFA made 20,000 tickets to four games in New Zealand available for free to anyone willing to sit in the stands.
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