Randy Waldrum was perhaps the only person in the room who was not surprised by what had just happened.

As tens of thousands of shell-shocked Matildas fans filtered out of Lang Park in Brisbane, the Nigerian head coach walked casually into the post-game media conference, looked around at the wide-eyed journalists clamouring for answers, and took a small sip of his drink.

Having just defeated Women’s World Cup co-hosts and title fancies Australia 3-2, following their 0-0 draw against Olympic gold medallists Canada a week earlier, Waldrum was — on the outside, at least — nonplussed.

He spoke plainly, politely, but with the kind of tone that seemed to say: have you not been paying attention?

“I’m so proud of these players because so many people didn’t believe,” he said.

“So many people didn’t believe in me, and didn’t believe in the team. The one thing we had done is we talked about believing in each other, and strength of our success is going to be about the unity in the team.

“To think we’ve come here and got two results out of two top teams in the world says a lot not about our ability, but also our heart and competitive desire that the team has.

Fighting for each other is something that Nigeria has had to do a lot lately, not just when facing difficult opponents on the field, but facing them off it, too.

The seven-time African champions have had one of the most disrupted lead-ups to this World Cup of any competing nation, with their preparation for this tournament overshadowed by accusations of delayed player and coach payments, cancelled camps and warm-up friendlies, and administrative meddling in squad and staff selections.

It’s not the first time: back in 2019, Nigeria’s national team staged a sit-in protest at their hotel in France to draw attention to the unpaid bonuses the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) had owed them for qualifying.

Those disputes have continued for years, suggesting deep-rooted structural and cultural problems within Nigerian football that have, clearly, not been resolved.

In the weeks before the 2023 edition kicked off, the NFF’s general secretary Mohammed Sanusi revealed to the squad that, because FIFA would be paying players directly for qualifying for the tournament (in order to escape the administrative quagmire of federations, ironically), the NFF felt they had no need to pay their separate, previously agreed-upon bonuses.

Waldrum, for his part, did not hold back from sharing his thoughts about working within such an organisation, airing the NFF’s dirty laundry on a number of public podcasts, with the federation seriously considering firing him the week before the tournament began.

So chaotic were things behind the scenes that the players were on the verge of boycotting their opening game against Canada (but after discussions with FIFPro, the global players’ union, the game went ahead as planned).

As the USA illustrated after winning the 2019 event while in a dispute with their own federation over equal pay and treatment, success is often a team’s best bargaining tool.

Nigeria’s progress out of the group stage — with two draws and a win — has only served to strengthen the players’ position and highlighted their individual and collective ability to perform despite their federation, not because of it.

The same can be said for Jamaica, who made it through to the round of 16 for the first time ever after drawing 0-0 with powerhouse Brazil on Wednesday night.

The Reggae Girlz made headlines after drawing with world number five France in their opening group game, using the global spotlight to draw attention to their difficult build-up to their second-ever Women’s World Cup.

Due to a lack of support from their federation, the team had to turn to public crowd-funding initiatives, and some desperate pleas to the Jamaican government and kit sponsor, to help fund their pre-tournament camps and travel to Australia.

To have qualified for the knock-outs without losing a game, especially after the senior women’s program was totally disbanded just seven years ago, is a testament to the collective effort of the players and coaches who, as Waldrum stated, have fought for each other when nobody else believed in them.

“The gap is bridging, and the poorer countries are getting better as well,” Jamaican goalkeeper Becky Spencer said after the France game.

“It just takes a lot for the experienced players just to drag everyone through and just give the belief, and I think that’s what it was today. It was about belief.”

Finally, South Africa’s passage to the knock-outs for the first time in Women’s World Cup history is a variation on the same theme.

Two weeks before the tournament began, a dispute between the playing group and the federation over payment and unsafe facilities saw the entire first-choice squad banned from taking part in a warm-up friendly against Botswana.

Instead, the federation cobbled together a second-string team of domestic players, including a 13-year-old, to fulfil the fixture and escape a possible fine for abandoning the game.

The tensions were only settled after the Motsepe Foundation, an African charity, made a “humble donation” to the team, with the CEO Precious Moloi-Motsepe saying they felt “duty-bound” to help the side after being approached by the federation as a last resort.

Spurred on, perhaps, by the knowledge that the future of South African women’s football rests on their shoulders, the reigning African champions went on to draw 2-2 with Argentina before sensationally knocking out Italy 3-2 to qualify for the round of 16.

If this World Cup has been about anything, it has been about how women footballers — particularly those from developing nations — have persevered and overcome the many financial, cultural, and political obstacles in their way in order to thrive on the biggest stage of all.

It has also placed growing pressure on the federations and administrators behind the scenes who have failed in their primary responsibility to support the players and staff members who are representing them and providing inspiration to millions back home.

When asked about the lack of funding and support for his team coming into the tournament, Waldrum once again used the podium of his success to bring these issues that his and many other teams are facing into the public domain, reminding us all that these teams have always been able to compete with the best — so long as they’re given the opportunity to do so.

“You can see how well they play and compete with what we have right now,” he said.

“All the teams can’t have a collective bargaining agreement like you have here in Australia. The same in the USA: players fought very hard in the US to get that.

“There’s a lot of countries — not only in Africa but also in CONCACAF and other parts of the world — that need more funding.

“The work is not done. It’s getting better, but the work is not done. I just think the sky’s the limit.”