The USWNT Won The World Cup *Again* & Twitter Is So, So Hype
On Sunday, July 7, the United States women's national soccer team defended their title by taking home the World Cup with a win against the Netherlands in the final. This marks the fourth time in history that the Americans have claimed the top spot in the competition, and the tweets about the USWNT winning the 2019 World Cup will make you want to celebrate.
The Americans and the Dutch faced off in Lyon, France on Sunday as they vied for the championship at this year's Women's World Cup. While the U.S. Women's National Team was an early favorite to win this year's competition due to claiming the title four years earlier, the final game seemed up for grabs as the score was tied 0-0 at halftime. However, players Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle were able to score in the second half, cinching their victory and making coach Jill Ellis the first manager to win the competition two times.
Considering it's been a long road to the title, with the U.S. team facing off against England in the semi-finals as well as teams like France and Spain, it was a momentous win. Shortly after the victory, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city will hold a ticker-tape parade in a tweet.
"You have inspired the entire country — and New York City knows how to celebrate champions," he wrote. Politicians like former president Barack Obama and First Lady Melania Trump also weighed in, as did athletes who'd watch the players' journey to the final game.
All took to the social media platform to share congratulatory messages to the team and celebrate their achievement.
At the time of publication, President Donald Trump had yet to share a tweet acknowledging the victory, which was not too surprising considering his war of words with star player Megan Rapinoe just days earlier.
After video footage of the Golden ball honoree saying she would not go "to the f—ing White House" went viral, the president took to Twitter to air his thoughts on the situation while saying he would invite the entire team win or lose.
"I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job!" he wrote.
Meanwhile, the star player defended her decision not to go during a Saturday, July 6 press conference, saying, "I haven’t spoken to everyone about it, obviously not myself, not Ali Krieger, and I suspect not many, if any, of the other players [would attend]."
Only time will tell whether President Trump ends up extending the invite to the team, and if so, if the team actually attends, but something tells me that they have other things on their minds. A few months before their win, the United States women's soccer team sued their federation for the second time in three years, claiming that they've experienced gender-based discrimination in wages and working terms compared to the men's team, which has yet to go to the World Cup final. On Monday, May 7, the U.S. Soccer Federation denied allegations of gender discrimination in the lawsuit, saying there are different pay structures and collective bargaining tools in place for the women and men. Per The Chicago Tribune, Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for the national team, responded at the time, "...Even as the most decorated American soccer team in history, USSF treats the women's team as 'less-than' equal compared to their male colleagues. We look forward to a trial next year after the World Cup."
Several Twitter users pointed out the discrepancy on the social media platform, arguing that their recent win is just one more reason that the women's team should be getting equal treatment and pay as their male counterparts.
According to ABC News, a USWNT spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that the team "tentatively agreed to mediation after the World Cup." Now that they've taken home the hardware, once again, it'll be interesting to see how the lawsuit talks play out.
