LOS ANGELES—The United States Women’s National Team celebrated their 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title on Tuesday in front of 10,000 adoring fans at Los Angeles’ LA Live.
During the hour-long celebration, the victorious USWNT reveled in the moment, even breaking out an amended “I believe that we just won” chant. The thousands that packed into LA Live were only a fraction of the ravenous support that has engulfed the nation as the U.S. Women won their third FIFA Women’s World Cup title and their first since 1999.
That ’99 team captured the attention of a nation like few other sports teams—men or women—ever have but according to U.S. captain and Golden Ball (Most Valuable Player) winner Carli Lloyd, the success of the ‘15ers could be an even bigger leap forward for the game in America.
“It's come such a long way, and I know in '99 it was a huge turning point for women's soccer but I think we have just crushed history right now,” Lloyd told reporters. “With the amount of coverage, with social media, with everything else that's been going on, I think there was no greater time to win a World Cup than now.
“Just coming home, seeing everybody, there's people I know that have reached out, close family and friends that say, I hate watching soccer. I never watch women's soccer, and I was glued to the TV, and that's an unbelievable moment. That's something that's going to last for years.”
The USWNT will continue their celebration on Friday when they head to New York City for a parade down the Canyon of Heroes in Manhattan. As special as that parade and Tuesday’s rally in Los Angeles are, affable midfielder Megan Rapinoe admitted to some shock at the attention that the USWNT has received since winning an unprecedented third Women’s World Cup title.
“It's like surreal in a way. It's not like we've been going out and having these crazy parties, but just these little moments with your teammates. I don't think it's totally sunk in yet,” Rapinoe said. “Today was amazing to be able to celebrate like that. Our fans have been incredible this entire tournament, and to be able to take the shirt off and celebrate with them in a little bit more informal way was fun for us.”
Once the celebrations end, Rapinoe hopes that the fans USWNT across the country will support the fledgling National Women’s Soccer League.
“I hope that all those people that supported us in Vancouver kind of trickle down into the stadiums that we play in in NWSL. Just the visibility of it, I think, is huge,” Rapinoe said. “I've been stopped in Seattle and people are wondering why I'm in Seattle. Sometimes people don't even know that there's a team [Seattle Reign] there. Just for us to be out in the forefront like this and to be able to talk about the league, and for people to know that we play on a weekly basis all over the country, is really big for us.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.