The Women's World Cup has come to a close. The United States has not won for the third consecutive time. Despite being the favorite in the championship game, they did not come out on top.
According to sports writers and bloggers across the country this means they were a failure. Anything short of a world title was a failure. These women (even though none of them played in 1999) were evidently living in the shadow of the U.S.'s last Women's World Cup champions, unable to get the monkey off their back.
Wow. A second place finish in the World Cup, something that countless countries around the world would give endlessly for, is a failure.
Wrong. This group of women was not even close to a failure. In fact, they have done at least as much for women's soccer and soccer in the United States as the 1999 team did.
The 1999 team has two names that sports fans from my generation recognize: Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain. One is probably the greatest American women's soccer player ever, and the other is imprinted in our minds with just her sports bra on up top.
The 2011 team has at least four women that we recognize: Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo and Abby Wambach. With the exception of maybe Morgan, all of these women are most recognizable and appreciated due to there soccer prowess, not their level of attractiveness. And what these women have done is way more important right now than any team from the last millenium did.
The monkey may not be off America's back in the World Cup, but it is off soccer's back in America for a little bit. The women from the United States' team accomplished two impossibles with their improbable, exciting run to the final two in this year's Women's World Cup: they made Americans care about soccer, and they made Americans care about a women's sport.
The win against Brazil was unreal. The win over France was awesome. The goals against Japan were amazing. The eventual loss was heart-rending. But America followed along the entire away. Americans, men and women, soccer followers and fairweather fans, blew up Twitter during the finals. And when the U.S. lost, perhaps the most important thing happened: we cared.
America didn't stop worrying about women's soccer right then and there. No, the celebration of this team continued. Because they were exciting. They provided better games than the men's team could muster a summer before, and they gave America a taste of what soccer can really be. Will it make a huge difference in our country's aversion to the world's sport? To be determined. But for a couple weeks, soccer and women ruled the sporting world. They dominated the Open Championship and the Home Run Derby.
Keep it up, "grass fairies" and ladies
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