If we had a dollar for every time we heard that phrase we would be very rich indeed.

It kept recurring when the glorious news came through that Australia would co-host the 2023 Women's World Cup along with New Zealand.

When the announcement was made, the Matildas shook their heads and gasped and then said it as one: "It's a dream come true."

And it is.

Women's soccer is established and there are many who believe it's a lot better than the male version.

It is nimbler and played more with the thinking part of the head than the bony ball-heading part of the head.

It's a game for the connoisseur of sport.

Much as women's tennis often has an elegance and refinement which the big, predictable heavy hitters of the male game lack, so women play soccer like the beautiful game is meant to be played.

At its best, it is a magical game which reminds of the rare artistry of Lionel Messi or George Best rather than the blunt skills of a mountainous clogger in the back four who knows only one fundamental rule: take his legs away and he can't run.

So the prospect of hosting the third most-watched sporting event in the world truly is a sweet dream.

It would have been even sweeter, though, if some of it could have taken place in the nation's capital.

Cost matters. Of course, it does, especially with a recession on the way.

One proposal was for the ACT to pay $6 million for three games - and that's a lot of money.

There might have been room for doing a deal - taking some of the smaller games for less money but whatever the outcome, it was big money for a small city.

As ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr put it: even $1 million per game would have made the women's World Cup the most expensive event in Canberra's history.

But there is a benefit beyond money. Cities get on the global stage through televisions in every corner of the planet tuned in to showcase the very biggest sporting contests.

They are global events. Barcelona made its name as a city - and it made unquantifiable hundreds of millions of dollars as a tourist destination - by hosting the Olympics.

It should be said, though, that other cities - like Montreal - have spent a fortune to no effect at all (apart from having a giant sporting complex to maintain).

The rule seems to be that cities have to spend really big to get a benefit. They need to secure the final and the biggest matches.

That would have been beyond Canberra's budget. Wisdom has ruled over dreams.