You cannot be what you cannot see.
Swiss footballer Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic never had a female footballer to look up to when she started playing more than 20 years ago, leaving her to idolise Brazilian men’s footballer Ronaldo Nazario.
‘‘Obviously, I didn’t have any female football players,’’ Crnogorcevic said.
‘‘We couldn’t even see it, because the games haven’t been on TV, the games haven’t been on like a livestream - I think that’s changed a lot.’’
The game has grown rapidly in the past few years, much to the delight of Crnogorcevic.
‘‘After that, I went to a men’s game from Barcelona, and then you just see young kids, young girls, young boys, walking around with a jersey [with the] name from a women’s player.
‘‘I couldn’t imagine that even five years ago. That wasn’t the case.
‘‘I think this is something very special. It’s so amazing and for young people around the world huge that they can look up to a women’s football player.’’
It was not just children in Europe that supported the women’s game, but also in New Zealand, where school pupils watched the Swiss training for the Fifa Women’s World Cup this week.
They were filled with enthusiasm and Crnogorcevic, who has played 133 caps for Switzerland, loved answering their questions, ranging from whether she had met Cristiano Ronaldo - ‘‘no, but I met Messi’’ - to where she played.
‘‘It’s just so nice when you see little kids looking up to you. They’re just there having fun... they want to see how you play.’’
She was proud to witness the ‘‘crazy’’ momentum women’s football has gained and hoped it could continue in to the World Cup, getting under way in Auckland tonight.
‘‘I think women’s football [made] a huge step forward in the last couple of years and I think we saw it at the last year at the Euros in England.
‘‘I really hope that this will be the same thing here, in New Zealand, in Australia.
‘‘It’s going to be a massive World Cup and there’s so many amazing players playing in this World Cup and I would just say they’re going to miss out something if they don’t watch.’’
Crnogorcevic, regarded as one of Switzerland’s top players, said it was a ‘‘huge honour’’ to represent her country.
She was impressed with the pitch at their training facility, Tahuna Park.
She looked forward to playing her first game at a covered stadium, when the Swiss play the Philippines in Dunedin tomorrow night.
Switzerland are ranked 20th in the world and the Philippines 46th, so ‘‘on paper’’ the Swiss were expected to win, she said.
‘‘I think everyone is expecting that we’re going to win this game, also me personally [I] expect to win this game, otherwise I wouldn’t go into a World Cup.
‘‘But it’s also sometimes not the easiest game, the first game.
‘‘Sometimes you don’t really know where you are... you’re a little bit nervous. You never know what’s going to happen.
‘‘Obviously the Philippines, they also come to a World Cup and they want to win this game, too.
‘‘It will be very important to get those two points.’’
She had settled in to her new home Dunedin nicely, enjoying sight-seeing, the coffee, training venues and the hotel, but she joked there was just one thing missing.
‘‘The only thing that I miss is a lovely spa,’’ she laughed.
