USA carried social and sporting burdens at the World Cup. They won anyway

There were plenty of reasons to expect the US wouldn’t repeat as Women’s World Cup champions. Most teams only need to beat their opponents. For the Americans, meanwhile, it often seemed like they had to accomplish that task while taking on their president as well as social inequality.

Yes, the US were used to pressure. They had won the World Cup in 2015, but clinching back-to-back World Cups is exceedingly rare – it had only happened once on the women’s side and twice on the men’s. It’s far too easy for complacency creep in — just look at how Germany stumbled in the men’s World Cup last year after winning in 2014.

And it’s not as if it had been smooth-sailing for the Americans since they won in 2015. With veterans like Abby Wambach retiring, the look of the team changed, and then the Americans suffered a humiliating and early exit at the 2016 Olympics. The US, despite their history of dominance, just didn’t look as imposing as they once had.

Maybe the rest of the world had caught up. Maybe Jill Ellis wasn’t a good coach. Maybe the squad – the oldest in the tournament – was past it. And maybe the players were distracted by the dispute over equal pay with their bosses at the US Soccer Federation.

Indeed, by the time the US arrived in France, that dispute had reached fever pitch. Every player on the team has sued US Soccer in federal court – the case will be heard in the coming weeks – and, for many, the topic became a sort of Rorschach test about feminism and equality. The players, who had to file their lawsuit before the World Cup began, were getting dragged into divisive and potentially distracting conversations. They didn’t need to win the World Cup to secure equal pay (and nor should they) but it sure as hell would help.

Even the President of the United States seemed to have a problem with the anointed “bad guys” of the Women’s World Cup. Donald Trump didn’t like that Megan Rapinoe had said she would not attend the White House if the team won the tournament, and suddenly everyone on the team had to decide whether they would defy Trump and the more toxic parts of his fanbase. Suddenly, this was a team that – fairly or unfairly – represented a lot more than the hopes of just soccer fans.

And then there were the worries on the pitch: Hope Solo, arguably the greatest goalkeeper the women’s game has ever seen, was no longer on the team, and the untested Alyssa Naeher looked error prone. The back line in front of her had been built to be ultra-attacking and looked vulnerable to quick counterattacks.

Once the games started, however, those vulnerabilities didn’t seem so glaring. Sure, Naeher made a couple mistakes, but there weren’t costly – the US still steamrolled through the group stage without conceding a single goal. They dropped 13 goals on Thailand, three on Chile and another two on Sweden, setting scoring records along the way.

That wasn’t enough though. Pundits, anxious US fans and opponents still looked for reasons why the US would eventually lose. Maybe USA’s opponents in the group stage hadn’t been enough of a test, or in Sweden’s case, with a second-string team, maybe they didn’t try hard enough.

And yes, the Americans had looked utterly dominant against Thailand – but to some they also looked arrogant too. The team celebrated all 13 goals they scored against the minnows, and the US quickly became the villains that neutrals were rooting against. The target was squarely on the backs of the USA players.

Megan Rapinoe celebrates after winning the World Cup. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

But then Rapinoe, who had already irked some with her willingness to speak out on everything from social inequality to goal celebrations, scored twice and sent the hosts, France, packing in the quarter-finals. The French played better and had more of the ball – just as they were supposed to – but those relentless Americans somehow found another level to close out the game. As France’s Amandine Henry explained: “I don’t think we’ve ever dominated the US that much. But still, dominating them still isn’t the same as winning.”

When England came next in the semi-final, their coach Phil Neville conjured up what would be dubbed “spygate” as a new psychological roadblock for the US. A couple of US operations coordinators had scouted the hotels for the final round, including the one England were staying at, and Neville complained it was bad etiquette, another example of American arrogance.

Making matters worse, Rapinoe, who scored all the USA’s goals in the knockout stage, had a minor hamstring injury and couldn’t play against England. Christen Press replaced her – and Press scored within 10 minutes. Naeher, who was supposed to struggle in her first World Cup, saved a penalty. If the US were supposed to lose, they clearly hadn’t gotten the memo.

By the time the US reached the final, the talk around the team had shifted sharply. Maybe the Americans weren’t lacking quality, weren’t going to he distracted and weren’t falling behind – perhaps the US were just as good as they seemed all along.

After seemingly everyone had given into the idea that the US were the real deal, the Netherlands finally gave the Americans a tough challenge. After scoring within 12 minutes of kick-off in all their games so far, the Americans had to wait until the 61st in the final, a credit to the Dutch players’ organization. But, thanks to goals from Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle, the Americans were World Cup champions once again.

It certainly had a different feel to their previous World Cup victories. No one was paying attention in 1991, when the US won the first-ever Women’s World Cup. In 1999, the victory was a cultural phenomenon that changed the game’s landscape forever. In 2015, it was relief after waiting so long since the 99ers’ big moment.

But this one? This was different. There were so many reasons they shouldn’t have lifted the trophy – the burdens on and off the field were much more than most teams ever have to cope with. But then they went ahead and won the World Cup anyway.