In amongst the alarming and overwhelming news cycle of the past few weeks, it's easy to forget that Australia and New Zealand are less than 500 days away from hosting one of the biggest sports tournaments in history.
While our timelines have been filled with images of war, pandemics, and natural disasters, FIFA and the 2023 Women's World Cup team have been quietly working behind the scenes to get the two countries and their combined nine host cities prepared for the world to descend upon them next July.
Despite the outside noise, 2023 World Cup CEO David Beeche said preparations are still comfortably on course.
"The tournament overall is on track," Beeche told the ABC in an exclusive interview.
"Operationally, we're nailing all our milestones, in spite of the challenges that COVID-19 has thrown at us. In the last four or five months, we've launched a new brand identity – which has been a real first taste of what's to come in terms of breaking new ground with this tournament.
"We've announced the match schedule, which is another key milestone. And then, on the horizon, we'll be announcing the official draw date and location, and we'll be announcing the play-off tournament.
"I think the easing of the recent border restrictions in both Australia and NZ is going to help a lot; if those had dragged on, we might have had a few more risks to manage.
"But as it stands today, I feel like we've got the wind behind us as things are opening up.
"There's not a big difference between 500 days and a year to go, and that's when things will really start to ramp up in terms of engagement and mobilisation of the public behind the event."
One reason for the invisibility of the tournament so far – aside from these occasional celebratory milestones – is that planning a major sports event is, largely, quite boring.
It involves a lot of paperwork, a lot of emails and phone calls, a lot of discussions, and a lot of brainstorming behind closed doors.
But as the World Cup peeks around the corner of next year, Beeche said fans can expect more visible and interactive elements of the tournament to start being announced.
"There will be all the typical things you'd expect with a FIFA tournament like the announcement of the mascot and the official song," he said.
"All those stepping-stones will ramp up from one year to go. And there'll be the official draw itself; obviously a major milestone when we find out where the teams are going to be playing.
"Along the way we've got qualifiers. We've already had our five qualifiers from Asia announced, which is really exciting. China, Japan, Korea are all coming – some of the big hitters – and new teams as well in the Philippines and Vietnam.
"We're already in the process of writing to all the consulates here congratulating them on qualification for the five who've already qualified and looking for introductions with community leaders and help engage with those populations so that they can come along and support their teams at the tournament.
Indeed, Beeche and the World Cup team do not want to repeat the mistakes made after Australia hosted the 2015 men's Asian Cup.
While it was a success for the Socceroos on the field, that tournament left few legacies in terms of ongoing engagement with the many diasporic communities its visiting teams attracted, and less still in terms of concrete investment in facilities and infrastructure.
Having been part of organising a major sports event in the past in his homeland of New Zealand, Beeche understands the power of engaging with local communities and their role in ensuring these tournaments are not simple flashes in the pan.
"It's fundamental to the tournament's success as a cornerstone of not only engaging the football community, but engaging with the local cultures and leaders as well," he said.
"In 2015, we hosted the under-20 men's World Cup here in New Zealand, which I led. In the final, we had Brazil versus Serbia. We had a Serbian section and a Brazilian section in the crowd, and it was like you were sitting in an EPL match. It was fantastic. And I think those gradual cultural changes are exactly that: they're gradual, they happen over time.
"Last year, for example, I was standing beside a football pitch watching my daughter play and overheard a couple of dads talking about their sons and the impact that tournament had on them. Four years on and they were still talking about it.
"They didn't know that I was there or that I was involved, but it was really rewarding to see some of those moments that we created as part of these tournaments have a lasting benefit on kids getting active.
However, even though they've been persisting through the chaos of the past 18 months, the World Cup team has not turned a blind eye to the outside forces that could seep their way into the tournament proper.
COVID-19 protocols are being developed and refined, governments and football bodies are being consulted regarding Russia's participation in qualifiers, and FIFA are about to appoint a Head of Sustainability to develop a strategy around making the tournament as environmentally friendly as possible.
In the immediate future, though, the World Cup team will finally gather in person with FIFA delegates to undertake an inspection of the chosen host stadiums and training venues, which were announced in late February.
And in early April, the Matildas and Football Ferns will meet in a two-game friendly series in Canberra and Townsville as this widespread community engagement project begins to take shape.
With sport increasingly implicated in the stresses and fractures of the modern world, Beech is more determined than ever to ensure the 2023 Women's World Cup serves as a reminder that sport is not irredeemable, nor incapable of good.
"My personal view is that tournaments like this are a catalyst for bringing people together, irrespective of creed, nationality, religion. Everything falls away," Beeche said.
"There's no doubt that having this tournament in our region was a catalyst in terms of getting the Wellington Phoenix into the A-League Women's. That's already a great outcome.
"There's lots of other legacy outcomes both Australia and New Zealand Football are working hard on developing, and I think that's a great thing and a really tangible example of some of the things we're already starting to see as a result of the tournament.
"You're right that the lever of global politics over the top does pose some challenges; we're seeing some announcements around how [football] is managing the situation there and the rest of the world is taking whatever actions they deem appropriate.
"But I'm an optimist, and hopefully by '23, we're in a different environment. But only time will tell."
