Why We Wrote This Despite being 153rd in FIFA rankings, the Malawi women’s soccer team is now within grasping distance of the World Cup. The win was a kind of announcement of the meteoric rise of women’s soccer in Africa. A striker for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Kansas City Current, she has been the league’s MVP and highest goal scorer for the last two years running. A win in Sunday’s quarterfinal will earn the team a bid to the World Cup in Brazil next year. Forward Vanessa Mbinho Chikupila remembers a time when she couldn’t imagine being within grasping distance of the World Cup.