Written by Nina Earle
I have for a very long time watched the USA women’s soccer team. It started in 2015, when they won the world cup in Canada. It was an amazing tournament for them. After that Tournament, Abby Wambach, a star, retired after an amazing career. When I was a kid, these women were the coolest people. I would sit for the whole 90 minutes (about 1 and a half hours) in front of the TV waiting for that moment when the game would get out of hand for their opponents. As the years have passed, the USA women’s soccer team has been strong. They won gold in 2012 in a brilliant game in the London Olympics. The final was an amazing game. In 2019, they played a strong tournament for the World Cup and won it. I was lucky enough to be in France while the World Cup was being hosted there and the energy from the tournament was amazing.
They have been a very star filled team with players like Carli Loyd, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapino. These players have all won multiple awards for their playing on the international level. They have also all been very active members of the community. A majority of the United States Women players old and current put their names forward for an equal pay bill. It was very visible and led to one player speaking in Washington.
Even with all the political issues and the changing of the coach, since 2019 the team has been on a slowdown hill. Up until the last couple of years the United States women’s team has had a rough going. They have been shifting generations on the field as many of the stars are all aging out and retiring and new younger players are coming in. This shift has not been a smooth one. As the rest of the world has been catching up with the USA women in skill; the USA women have been moving backwards. It is a different world for women’s soccer where there is a group of almost ten teams that at any moment could step forward and win it all.
