You may have missed it, but the women's soccer world cup is on at the moment, hosted by Germany. The German women's soccer team adopted the slogan "third place is for men" in reference to the way they have won the last two world cups and the men's team has come third in the last two world cups.
So you have to feel for them when you hear they were beaten 1-0 by the Japanese in the quarter-finals.
The football ferns (NZ's women's soccer team) got one point, by salvaging a draw with Mexico. And they can feel proud that they were only beaten 2-1 by Japan.
And I suppose I have to note that it's a pity the coverage hasn't been better. Whatever you think about the differences in the way the men's and women's games operate, the drama of this tournament is easily as good as any I've followed.