Losing this World Cup doesn’t make the U.S. women’s national team a failure

Earlier this month in Melbourne, Australia, the U.S. women’s national soccer team lost to Sweden in penalty kicks, sealing their elimination from the World Cup. Two-time World Cup winners Tobin Heath and Christen Press, both sidelined with injuries, described the team’s early exit from the World Cup, respectively, as “traumatic” and “a nightmare.”

Yes, the U.S. women had their earliest major tournament exit ever, but that loss doesn’t take away from all that the national team has achieved.

This World Cup will have 31 losers — the most ever — as FIFA expanded the field of national teams competing from 24 to 32. The winner, either Spain or England, will be decided at 6 a.m. Eastern on Sunday.

And this was a World Cup of firsts. The first World Cup in my lifetime where all the teams that had previously won the tournament were eliminated before the semifinal round, meaning that a new champion will emerge. The first World Cup where 1.77 million tickets were sold for the tournament’s first 60 games. The first World Cup where an openly trans and nonbinary person — Quinn, of Canada — played, fresh off their victory in the Tokyo Olympics. And Nouhaila Benzina, of Morocco, was the first player to wear a hijab in a major tournament.

Those players (and fans) are losers, too. But losing is a part of sports. Or, as my 85-year-old grandfather — himself a former Ironman triathlete and ultramarathoner — so eloquently put it when I described this op-ed to him: “Someone has to lose.”

And losing doesn’t make them a failure.

Since the Women’s World Cup was first played in 1991, the U.S. women have won four times — in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019 — making them the most successful national team in the world. (Germany is in a distant second place, with two World Cup wins in 2003 and 2007.) The way I see it, the U.S. women deserve more than pay equity with the men’s team — which they achieved only last year. How many times have the U.S. men won a World Cup? Zero.

Many of the critiques against the U.S. team are gendered and homophobic. Some people — including Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters, former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, and former President Donald Trump — seem more excited about the loss than their wins.

Watters called star player Megan Rapinoe “abrasive and self-centered.” On Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.” And users on social media piled on.

This is a woman who has won two World Cups and two Olympic medals, largely due to her brilliant passes and set pieces. Last year, President Joe Biden awarded Rapinoe the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor.

And yet, it often felt like many people were cheering for her demise.

Clearly, the criticisms stemmed from her politics, not her performance on the field. Rapinoe was one of the first openly LGBTQ soccer players, and she has spoken out for trans kids’ right to play sports. She was also one of the first athletes to take a knee during the national anthem in support of Colin Kaepernick in 2016. In 2019, Rapinoe refused to visit the White House after the team’s World Cup win and encouraged her teammates to do the same, angering then-President Trump.

Rapinoe has played for our country in international matches 202 times. This World Cup was her last, but she’s still the cofounder of two companies: re—inc, a fashion brand, and A Touch More, a production company. At 38 years old, she has already had an incredible career, and I’m excited to see what she does next.

As my colleague Will Bunch noted in these pages, cheering against players like Rapinoe because you disagree with their politics is simply un-American.

The 13 colonies rebelled against Britain and America was founded — right here in Philadelphia — so that we could enjoy free speech. We should all be taking pride in the fact that these players are able to use their voices — even if FIFA refused to allow them to wear rainbow armbands in support of LGBTQ rights without incurring a yellow card.

Rapinoe and the other U.S. players are among the best in the world, and these women represent us on an international stage. Rooting for them is patriotic.

Other countries get it. In Australia, “Matilda Mania” — a reference to the nickname given to the women’s team — has swept over the continent, selling out stadiums, breaking viewer records, and prompting kids to sign up to play soccer in droves.

I was once one of those girls. In 1999, after watching the U.S. women best China in the World Cup final, I proudly hung a Mia Hamm poster in my bedroom. I looked up to the U.S. players then, and I still look up to them now.

I cheer for the U.S. women because I can’t get Abby Wambach’s 2011 World Cup quarterfinal goal — dished out by the most incredible assist by Rapinoe — out of my head. I cheer for the team because I think Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird are the best couple in sports, and because I grew up without LGBTQ role models. I cheer for the team because Naomi Girma has nerves of steel, and she plays with heart to honor Katie Meyer, a friend she lost from suicide. I cheer for the team because Rose Lavelle always surprises me, and because Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, and Julie Ertz are all moms.

Once the World Cup is over, I’m excited to cheer for the National Women’s Soccer League, because it is the best soccer league in the world. And don’t get me started on how Philly needs a professional women’s sports team — basketball or soccer — stat. In a city of sports fans, surely that team would thrive. Dawn Staley, come through? Maybe even Carli Lloyd could get behind the idea.

I cheer for women’s sports because when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. Surely that is worth celebrating.