From the Washington Post:
DECINES-CHARPIEU, France — With gold medals around their necks and fresh jerseys that proclaimed “Champions” on their backs, members of the U.S. women’s soccer team took turns cradling and kissing the World Cup trophy, then raising it aloft with triumphant howls.
As confetti pooled around their ankles at Stade de Lyon, packed with a capacity crowd of 57,900, some fell flat on their backs and made snow angels. Others draped themselves in the American flag and danced.
Upon winning the country’s fourth Women’s World Cup title Sunday with a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands, the team celebrated as it had competed the entire four-week tournament — wholeheartedly and unapologetically.
[…]
Three months before the tournament kicked off in Paris on June 7, the members of the U.S. women’s team sued their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, for gender discrimination, citing wages and working conditions that are inferior to those of their less successful male counterparts.
In doing so, the athletes knowingly and deliberately made their burden greater heading into the World Cup. Whether the lawsuit was a post-match talking point or not (and it rarely was), each goal and each victory the U.S. women scored became a statement about their prowess on the field and their leverage off it.
Chants of “Equal pay! Equal pay!” rang out from the stands in the delirious aftermath of Sunday’s U.S. victory, leaving no doubt about how soccer fans would rule if they were judge and jury of the legal proceedings.
Within seconds, the hashtag #EqualPay spiked fivefold on Twitter, according to a company official. Twitter was the social media platform of choice Sunday for U.S. soccer supporters, including former first lady Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton; actors Ryan Reynolds and Bette Midler; and NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump also tweeted their congratulations.
Equal pay? They should be earning more. They’ve done more for soccer in the US than the men’s team, and — according to those who follow the sport — are better at it.
Meanwhile, Fox News got an earful when they cut to a local sports bar in Lyon, France, after the game.
World Cup viewers at a bar in Lyon, France on Sunday marred a Fox News segment by chanting profanities at Donald Trump.
Fox News cut to the sports bar in Lyon just moments after the U.S. women’s team won the World Cup championship.
As correspondent Greg Palkot began his report, the establishment’s bartender prompted a chorus of chants.
“Fuck Trump!” the bartender shouted.
“Fuck Trump!” the bar began to yell in unison.
“We were going to be outside,” Palkot explained. “We were going to be looking at a screen with the football game. But in fact it was cancelled by officials because they were worried about security measures. The American fans came over to this sports bar.”
“It’s been a crazy time,” the veteran war reporter added.
Cut to commercial!
