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The Argentine National Women's Team won a big win at the 2019 Women's World Cup on Monday, even though it included no goals.
Argentina ended its first match by drawing 0-0 with Japan, one of the favorites of the World Cup.
Read more: Women's World Ranking – Ranking of participants in 24 teams at the beginning of the tournament
The result marks a big moment for the Argentine women's team, which earned a point for the draw, its first in a World Cup tournament.
After the match, the players celebrated as they had won, hugging each other and becoming emotional on the pitch.
The difference in reactions between Argentine players and one of the Japanese players is striking.
The Argentine women's team had a history of torture in World Cup. In 2005 World Cup, they lost 11-0 against Germany, and they have a differential of -31 goals on stage of the World Cup.
As Luis Paez-Pumar of Deadspin explains, after the 2015 Pan American Games, the Argentine Football Federation stopped funding the women's team for nearly two years. The team has finally been rebuilt, but still struggles to pay late payments and unpaid travel expenses, according to Paez-Pumar.
As underlined football writer Sandra Herrera, Argentina was not even ranked as an active team by FIFA in 2015.
Since the team is relatively new, even a single point via a draw is a big win. Paez-Pumar wrote:
"If Argentina lost worthily in front of England and Japan, then a point against Scotland, they would have had a meritorious tournament. Even winning just one point of the tournament would be the best result of the Albicelestes at a World Cup. "
FiveThirtyEight gave Argentina only 15% of chances to qualify for the round of 16 at the start of the tournament. These probabilities have already increased to 29% with a point now in their pockets. Perhaps a miracle race is planned, and even if it is not the case, the World Cup has already been successful for Argentina.
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