U.S. Women's Soccer, On the Rise Even After Defeat

The U.S. reign in the Women’s World Cup has been one of the most riveting stories in the history of sports. Going into the tournament, the United States was the top ranked team, yet there were very few people who actually expected the U.S. to win it all.  Many experts assumed the host country, Germany, would take the cup due to their home field advantage. Others expected Brazil to win it all with their reigning five-time player of the year, Marta. While both of these teams were extremely talented, it is somewhat disconcerting that the top ranked team was so overlooked.

Maybe our men’s team caused the lessened expectations for the United States at the beginning of the tournament. The men’s team recently lost the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final to Mexico 4-2, which would have guaranteed us a spot in the 2013 Brazilian Confederation Cup. A spot in Brazil against many strong teams would have been a great tune-up for the Americans and their quest to become legitimate contenders in the 2014 World Cup. That being said, the men’s disappointments have been quite different from the women’s success; over the last six world cups, the U.S. women have defined consistency, even though soccer’s popularity in America has been sporadic at best.

Nowadays, soccer’s popularity is once again on the rise in America, just as it was last year during the men’s tournament. But while last year our fan base was split between our own team and the perennial powerhouses of Spain, England and Argentina, the women’s division contains a contending American club that has recently accumulated a large amount of support. This recent surge in popularity can be largely attributed to the American dominance; other than the few faithful diehard fans, not many people even knew there was a Women’s World Cup this summer, let alone one where we had the chance to take home the gold. Now after seeing some extremely exciting matches and some very impressive playmaking ability, it’s hard not to love the American squad.

These players have proven to be winners. The United States has reached at least the semi-final stages in all six of the Women’s World Cups. Of those six matches, the United States reached the finals thrice and is tied for the lead with Germany by having won the tournament twice.  The United States had several dominant performances to reach this point, but this tournament will forever be remembered by how dramatic several of their wins were. Abby Wambach scored the equalizer in the 122^nd minute of the quarterfinal match against Brazil (America went on to win the match in penalty kicks). And this final match against Japan was by far one of the most dramatic matches of the tournament, featuring everything from missed opportunities, to equalizing goals, to extra time, and finally a penalty shootout.

Tragically the U.S. did fall short of winning it all again, and it was certainly a devastating loss. This was a game that was theirs for the taking, but a couple of miscues on defense brought Japan back in the game and gave them the momentum heading into the shootout. There aren’t many positives that can be taken from the game Sunday, July 17, other than it’s exactly what a ravaged country could use to renew national pride, and if one had to pick a country deserving of some sort of victory, it certainly is Japan. However, by just being in the game, by being in the finals, America proved to the world that while soccer may not be as popular here as it is in Europe, we can still be dominant. We proved that we could market players such as Hope Solo and Alex Morgan, when prior to the World Cup there were few renowned American athletes. And finally, we proved that we could be excited about a game of fútbol that for once had nothing to do with a pigskin or a lockout.