Complacency, attacks from Donald Trump and the battle for equal pay were supposed to catch up with the Americans. They still lifted the trophy
There were plenty of reasons to expect the US wouldn’t repeat as Women’s World Cup champions. Most teams only need to beat their opponents. For the Americans, meanwhile, it often seemed like they had to accomplish that task while taking on their president as well as social inequality.
Yes, the US were used to pressure. They had won the World Cup in 2015, but clinching back-to-back World Cups is exceedingly rare – it had only happened once on the women’s side and twice on the men’s. It’s far too easy for complacency creep in — just look at how Germany stumbled in the men’s World Cup last year after winning in 2014.
Written by Caitlin Murray in Lyon
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/08/womens-world-cup-2019-usa-womens-team-victory under the title “USA carried social and sporting burdens at the World Cup. They won anyway”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
