Well, I’m sad that’s over; it’s been a total pleasure to watch women from all over the world repping their nations with power and strength and skill — and yes, sometimes, sass and super lipstick. But seriously, watch Rose Lavelle on the dribble and tell me she couldn’t teach our men’s team a thing or three. And the headers from Alex Morgan and Christen Press in the game against England, and Megan Rapinoe’s faultless penalty kicks that slipped past the goalie even when she guessed in the correct direction… What is there to say, other than: Pay these women. Pay them equally. Or, how about this: Pay them more. Because they’ve won HALF of the Women’s World Cups — four out of the eight total — and were no worse than third in the others.
I’m so excited for this group, and also impressed with the defense of The Netherlands in the first half — and, frankly, with England’s entire run (that semifinal against the US was a nail-biter). Yay soccer. Just one more reason to be excited for the Olympics next summer, too. Sweden took us out in 2016 in the quarterfinals, so let’s see if we can get a medal around our necks again.
Edited to add: The Dutch goalie, Sari van Veenendaal, was BRILLIANT and won the Golden Glove. Rose Lavelle’s Twitter feed is a delight, as evidenced here. AND a shout-out to Ali Krieger, who came in for an injured O’Hara, and is also very possibly — per Vogue — about to be the first athlete to marry her teammate. I was excited to see her come in and get to add a layer to such a big year.
Also: We watched the Atlanta-New York MLS game right after the World Cup ended, and it happened to be pretty good, but the amount of whining and diving and jawing was so much greater. And yet people were miffed that Alex Morgan pretended to drink a cup of tea after scoring in the semis against England? Please.
[Photos: Rex/Shutterstock]
