After spotlight fades, U.S. women's soccer has another challenge ahead
LOS ANGELES -- There were dark glasses and hoarse voices and plenty of admissions of severe sleep deprivation, but the United States' victorious Women's World Cup team wasn't going to let such trivial matters get in the way Tuesday morning.
Less than 48 hours removed from lifting the trophy in Canada, the squad was greeted to the sort of sight that made you blink to check if it was real: an estimated 10,000 screaming fans lining up, jostling for position and jamming into a downtown entertainment district to see nothing more than an elaborate pep rally.
"We are champions," forward Alex Morgan yelled. "That will last forever."
Indeed it will, the title of victor is an eternal one and is a fitting reward for a group of players who believed when others doubted and proved themselves to be of championship caliber in the final two weeks of a grueling month-long event.
What will not last indefinitely, though, is this kind of joyous hype and hysteria, the kind that saw the assembled masses chanting and dancing and shrieking whenever their favorite took to the microphone. That, sadly, is the nature of these things. And even as they laid out plans for a frenetic publicity tour that will involve a parade in New York on Friday, the ESPYs, morning television and chat show couches and a victory tour of matches, the clock was already ticking on this squad's time as the nation's favorite talking point.
How much of a lingering effect there is from this extraordinary journey will play out over the coming months and years and is impossible to gauge exactly because of its uniqueness. While the 1999 championship and Brandi Chastain's iconic shirt strip had a transformative impact, soccer was then coming from nearly a standing start. Even afterward, first one professional women's league then another collapsed amid a mountain of debt and the sharp sting of mainstream apathy.
"This team is very inspiring," defender and team captain Christie Rampone said. "Hopefully we send a message. Hopefully we will get some more fans and we will see more success."
The women's team has done a fine job of reeling in casual fans, capitalizing on its own likeability and a midsummer sweet spot.
Now it must do even better in getting them to stay.
There is a solid domestic competition, the National Women's Soccer League, where virtually the entire squad plies its trade and could certainly use an injection of interest, being propped up by contributions from U.S. Soccer and minor investment from the Canadian and Mexican federations.
But the NWSL is not exactly front and center on the sports pages. Do you know much about Sky Blue FC or the Houston Dash? Women's soccer, outside of the World Cup and the Olympics, faces a fight for a slice of the pie, not just against other sports, but also even among those who love soccer.
As midfielder Megan Rapinoe pointed out, minutes after she and Amy Rodriguez took a raucous turn emceeing the celebration and lauding their teammates to the crowd's loud approval, while a city like Seattle is seen as being a vibrant soccer hub, there are vast discrepancies.
"The Sounders (in Major League Soccer) are getting 50,000," Rapinoe said. "(NWSL's Seattle Reign) are getting 2,000. I think we can get a few thousand more, that would be awesome."
Meanwhile, a few miles down the road, the men's game had some pageantry of its own, as the Los Angeles Galaxy unveiled England midfielder Steven Gerrard as its latest international star.
Gerrard is a big name and a big deal. A former captain of England's national team and longtime stalwart for Liverpool, among the English Premier League's most distinguished clubs, he is the latest global star to move to MLS and one of the most significant.
The attention afforded to Gerrard's first news conference drew into focus the different challenges the women's game faces. MLS has reached a point where it can generate buzz with a flash of a checkbook, and Gerrard's first games will be keenly anticipated.
His arrival was further evidence that MLS is no longer a retirement home for aging European stars. Gerrard is 35, but he fielded offers from other EPL teams and clubs in continental Europe before settling on a switch to California.
"Anyone who thinks I am here for a (vacation) will be proved wrong, quickly," Gerrard said. His words were beamed back to England, such is his status in the game and the pull of top-flight men's soccer.
By comparison, the only way the women's game in the USA gets into the spotlight is by winning an international tournament. Achieving such a feat is no easy task, demonstrated by the 16 years that elapsed between World Cup title wins.
These are problems that are not for the players to wrap their heads around, or at least not right now. They have done their part of the bargain by beating the best teams in the world and, for the most part, acting as fine role models.
More fun is to follow, with a ticker-tape parade on the agenda and camera shutters that won't stop clicking just yet. What the women hope for more than anything is that when life goes back to normal it is a new normal, one in which women's soccer has a fresh relevance, not just in the snapshot of time after winning it all.
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