There’s perhaps no greater testament to the strength, drive, togetherness and badassery of the USWNT than the whirlwind tour they’ve been on since Sunday night.
Mere mortals like you and I would probably like nothing more than to curl up under a blanket and nurse a week-long hangover while regaining some sort of feeling in our legs after a month of heinous physical exertion, but the USWNT knows no chill.
After the USWNT won its fourth World Cup, second in a row, Budweiser made an announcement.
Budweiser will be the official supporter of the National Women’s Soccer League.
The curtain has fallen on another edition of the World Cup; 52 games were played and 23 teams fell short. Only the United States emerged victorious following its 2-0 win over the Netherlands on Sunday.
The ratings are coming in from Sunday’s World Cup final between the USWNT and the Netherlands, and yup, they’re really impressive. Over on Telemundo, the game was the most-watched women’s match in Spanish-language history. The average total audience delivery was 1.6 million viewers, up 22 percent on the 2015 final despite the earlier start time. The game peaked at 2.03 million TV-only viewers towards the end.
It’s been just over eight years since Giovani dos Santos scored one of the greatest goals in Gold Cup history, putting the finishing touches on a 4-2 Mexico victory over the USMNT during the 2011 final. Fast forward to the present day and it’s his younger brother, Jonathan, who’s cemented El Tri’s continental dominance.
Heading into the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the consensus was that the USWNT would ship its fair share of goals but overcome that deficiency by winning matches in barnstorming fashion — maybe a 4-2 here, a 5-3 there. This side was supposed to be the antithesis of the 2015 unit that conceded only three goals en route to the title.
In a month that’s seen the national discourse largely dictated by USWNT attacker Megan Rapinoe, it’s only fitting that the 34-year-old has finished her 2019 Women’s World Cup odyssey with the final’s game-winning goal, as well as the tournament’s two most prestigious individual awards: The Golden Boot (given to the leading scorer) and Golden Ball (given to the best player).
It was Alex Morgan who drew the foul in the area in the 60th minute, but Rapinoe stepped up to convert her third penalty of the tournament.
The USWNT made history today by becoming repeat champions of the Women's World Cup following a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands. For all the talk of a closing divide between the Americans and their European counterparts, this one wasn’t even close. It took an hour for the U.S. to find its opener, but the final score could’ve easily been five or six to zero.
FIFA announced the Women's World Cup final referee and fans of both sides should have no complaints with the choice.
Stéphanie Frappart of France will be the center referee for the USWNT’s match against the Netherlands on Sunday as Team USA seeks its second straight Women’s World Cup title and fourth overall.
FIFA Women‘s World Cup - Match officials appointed for the FINAL #USANED, 7 July, Lyon
The Fourth of July is a time for unnecessary parades, celebrating overzealous patriotism with the sounds of war and relaxing with a cold beer in the hot sun followed by binge-watching Season 3 of Stranger Things.
It is not, apparently, a time for spelling names correctly.
The LA Galaxy defeated Toronto FC 2-0 on Thursday night, an appropriate celebration of the United States’ Independence Day as one of the league’s standard bearers defeated the best Canadian club. But the two goals were scored by a Swede whose name was remarkably misspelled on his own jersey.