A World Cup title is exactly what America needs to get behind women's sports and soccer.
PITTSBURGH, Penn. --What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend than with the U.S. Women’s National Team claiming the title of the best women’s soccer team in the world following its 5-2 victory over Japan.
After 15 minutes of play in the World Cup Final soccer, Carli Lloyd decided to take the game into her own feet, scoring a hat-trick and showing the last World Cup -- when Japan beat the U.S. on penalties -- was a fluke.
This was quite a surprise to me, seeing that the U.S. had presumably claimed the World Cup just a third of the way through the first half, leading 3-0. Soccer is one of those sports that you dread going up by too much too early.
But this was different.
In a podcast that The Post’s Sports Editor, Charlie Hatch, and I had, I told him that this will be a repeat of the 2011 World Cup with the U.S. likely to fold late in the game and allow Japan to take control.
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Instead of sitting back in the second half, the U.S. kept fighting, something that wasn’t so prevalent through its early matches.
In no way am I saying the team didn’t fight its way to get to the final. But it seemed as though the team wasn’t playing to win; it was playing not to lose.
Not that Sunday; the women were playing to win.
Throughout the 2015 World Cup, the U.S. did not play to its capability, and some of that comes from, what I believe, is a lack of fan support.
There was plenty of support for the team, but it was expected to make it to the final through U.S. fans’ eyes. There wasn’t much celebration after winning like there was for the men.
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The women’s team deserves all the credit and support it can get for such an outstanding display in the final. This was the U.S. team that showed up game 1 against Australia and then died down.
If there is anything we have learned from the World Cup, it’s that there is no reason the women’s teams shouldn’t be just as popular as the men’s teams.
“I Believe That We Will Win.”
@wynstonw_
