Presented by BACON BOISE.
This Day In Sports…July 7, 2019:
The U.S. women’s soccer team wins a record fourth World Cup with a dominating 2-0 win over the Netherlands in Lyon, France. The first goal came via a penalty kick from American captain Megan Rapinoe, the controversial and irrepressible face of the team. Rapinoe had first stirred the pot in 2016 when she knelt during the National Anthem in solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. But she was a rock on the pitch in this World Cup, earning the Golden Ball as the tournament’s top player and the Golden Boot as its top scorer.
The U.S. and the Netherlands were scoreless at halftime, with the Dutch putting all of their stock on the defensive end. Then in the 61st minute, U.S. forward Alex Morgan was fouled in the penalty area as Stefanie van der Gragt’s high boot struck her shoulder and upper arm. The referees didn’t see it initially, but a VAR review confirmed it. Rapinoe, age 34, calmly drilled the penalty kick into the lower right corner, becoming the oldest player ever to score in a Women’s World Cup final.
Not long after that, U.S. midfielder Rose Lavelle gave the U.S. some separation with a spectacular solo effort in the 69th minute. Lavelle gathered in a pass near the center circle and saw empty space ahead. She took off, dribbling toward backpedaling Dutch defenders, and uncorked a left-footed liner from the edge of the box. It met twine in the bottom right corner of the net. From there, the Netherlands was forced to press on offense, and the Americans held fast.
The championship only strengthened the USWNT’s resolve, as it was engaged in a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay with the less successful men’s team, which lost 1-0 to Mexico that evening in the final of the Gold Cup for supremacy in North and Central America and the Caribbean. The USWNT and U.S. Soccer reached a landmark $24 million settlement in 2022.
The Americans gunned for their third straight World Cup title and fifth overall in 2023 but were ushered out of the tournament in group play, where they won just one game (over Vietnam). It was the earliest U.S. exit ever at the World Cup. Rapinoe retired afterward, coach Vlatko Andonovski agreed to step down, and it was essentially an all-new cast that won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The USWNT has high expectations next year when the 2027 World Cup is played in Brazil.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
