South African and Jamaican players are also unhappy at a lack of payment from their national associations.
The players will receive at least $50,000 each from Fifa for reaching the last 16 at the World Cup, but nothing from the South Africa Football Association (SAFA).
This is a wider issue than just these three teams – England are in a similar dispute with their FA – but the problems for the nations with less-established history on the world football stage are deeper.
South Africa – a country aiming to host the next World Cup in 2027 – had to field a 13-year-old girl in a key World Cup warm-up friendly against Botswana because of a player boycott.
Senior players were unhappy that the friendly was being played at Tsakane Stadium, 31 miles southeast of Johannesburg, on a pitch made of clay and grass. The venue does not host games in the national Premier Soccer League.
Amid fears the surface could cause injury just weeks before the World Cup, the regular squad did not play.
It is against this backdrop that many of the thrilling upsets at the Women’s World Cup are happening. While it makes them all the more remarkable, they also illustrate how far women’s football around the world has to go to be treated with respect.
“It shouldn’t be that the backing and the funding of the federation is dependent on the success of the team of the national team,” said Smith. “These national teams have worked hard, these women deserve to have backing and funding regardless.
“They are getting more money from Fifa for preparation. There’s no excuse for these federations not to be backing and funding their national teams properly, and supporting these women who are representing their country equal to the men.
“It’s unfair, it’s not a positive situation but I think the fact that they are winning is waking the country up and potentially rallying the population to force the federation into funding and supporting them more, which can only be a good thing.”