What an unbelievable win!
I’m not gonna lie, I almost missed the first shot by Carli Lloyd! I also almost missed the second one too because I had to go to the bathroom … that never happens in soccer – so many goals!
I couldn’t be prouder of the team.
Also, I know I bag on Carli Lloyd and that’s not going to change. However, I feel like Coach made an excellent decision on giving her less responsibility in the midfield. She just owned the fact that Carli Lloyd will not run her butt up and down the field. It put more responsibility on the other midfielders, but in some ways, maybe not? I know when I played, I played with a few Carli Lloyd’s. You couldn’t rely on them to maintain their position on the field, but yet had to defer to them that they would possibly be there. In some regards, it’s just easier to reconfigure the field and know that you have a larger area to defend.
Also, you can’t take away from her those goals despite not liking her. They were fantastic.
She was also classy when she handed the Captain’s band to Abby Wambach when she came onto the field. Abby is a huge fan favorite, one of my favorites, that was nice to see happen.
Class abounded everywhere in regards to this USWNT. Abby then handed the badge to Rampone, as it will be her last cup (duh, she’s 40!) and then they were the last two to come onto the podium to raise the cup. It was emotional, and wonderful, and you just don’t see that in men’s sports.
Obama called the USWNT, too. Classy. Everything surrounding the USWNT was classy.
Outclassed were the men. It’s been everywhere in the news, but it bears repeating. The final had more viewers than the Men’s World Cup final and game 6 of the Cavs vs Warriors (that one really boggles my mind). Game 6 was the highest rated NBA Finals game since the Jordan era! Awesomeness!
The markets that watched the most were Kansas City, St. Louis, San Diego (yay! my new adopted town), Denver, and Austin.
22.86 million viewers. Sweet!
Another great thing on a social standpoint was getting to watch Abby go into the stands and kiss her wife. It just seemed so sweetly appropriate to be able to show their love for each other on a grand scale just after the ruling by SCOTUS.
Bittersweet though is that we will not see some very important returning faces. Lauren Holiday and Christie Rampone have already announced their retirements, and while it’s not official, Abby Wambach has eluded to her retirement as well.
Here is a great article by The Players’ Tribune with special contributor Christie Rampone. I love you girl! At 38 myself, I don’t feel like I’ve aged out of life either!
I think a final thought is congratulations to the Japanese women. You played your hearts out and should be proud of yourselves. You had a great tournament and even when you were down, you pushed on and were able to do your country proud by scoring two goals. You didn’t give up when other teams would have. Well done, ladies. Well, done.
Madeline Fresco 