World Cup Mums Balance Parenting With Football Ambitions

Sydney, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jul, 2023 ) :Jamaican Women's World Cup player Cheyna Matthews tears up when she recalls one of her three little boys saying: "Why are you always gone so long?" But some players at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand have found a solution to suffering similar anxieties about being apart from their young children for weeks -- they have brought them with them.

Midfielder Melanie Leupolz has her infant son and a nanny for the tournament, which will last one month if her German side fulfill expectations back home by reaching the final in Sydney on August 20.

Throw in preparations in the build-up and it can be a long trip.

Leupolz left the youngest member of the Germany squad with his nanny for two days at the team base north of Sydney while the team flew to Melbourne, where they opened their campaign with a 6-0 thrashing of Morocco.

"It's quite a challenge. It's draining and takes up a lot of energy," the 29-year-old Chelsea player said in an interview with broadcaster DAZN, reflecting on balancing her playing career with parenting.

"I wanted to show women: Hey, you can do both. That's what drove me." In an interview broadcast this week by football's governing body FIFA, Matthews and her Jamaican team-mate Konya Plummer are seen laughing as they look at videos of their children.

But there are tears, too, because they are apart.

"The reason I really push to play soccer is that I want my kid to know I am strong," says Plummer, who has a baby boy.