Lots of People Wanted Team USA to Fail. Their World Cup Win Is One of the Greatest Responses in Sports

The expectations could have easily crushed any other team. The U.S. entered the 2019 World Cup as the top-ranked women's soccer nation in the world, a squad so deep, according to many observers, that its bench players could have contended for a title. Seven of the eight teams to make these World Cup quarterfinals hailed from Europe; traditional European soccer powers, finally coming to their senses, started investing more in the women's game. In its last three games of the World Cup, the U.S.

The expectations could have easily crushed any other team. The U.S. entered the 2019 World Cup as the top-ranked women's soccer nation in the world, a squad so deep, according to many observers, that its bench players could have contended for a title. Seven of the eight teams to make these World Cup quarterfinals hailed from Europe; traditional European soccer powers, finally coming to their senses, started investing more in the women's game. In its last three games of the World Cup, the U.S.