Huh? As is the case with most sports played by both genders (and in the case of soccer, I've coached both genders), boys and men play with greater pace, power and speed than women, who tend to share the ball better at youth level and, while they play well, do not play at the level of the top men.
And since women's soccer is rarely televised outside of the Women's World Cup, the growth in ratings in the game is mostly attributable to men.
As is the case with most sports played by both genders (and in the case of soccer, I’ve coached both genders), boys and men play with greater pace, power and speed than women
...come now...quite obviously my point is that the extremely conservative nature of the scoring opportunities in soccer, as well as things like the size of the field, tend to mask the obvious power and pace differential, which is music to the ears of the gender bunch...also, I’m speaking strictly about interscholatic sports, not professional...
...in addition to which, just imagine a boys soccer team playing a girls team, and then imagine a boys-girls basketball matchup, and you’ll see what I mean about de-emphasized gender performance differential...