The U.S. women’s national team’s Women’s World Cup encounter with the Netherlands may be a rematch of the 2019 final, with many of the same players involved in the game. Off the field, though, it’s a different story.
The USWNT celebrated a fourth World Cup title in France four years ago as equal pay chants rang around the stadium, in the midst of the team’s longstanding pay dispute against U.S. Soccer. The players eventually clinched the biggest win of their careers last year when they agreed to a collective bargaining agreement that ensured equal pay and working conditions, which gives this World Cup a notably different feel for the USWNT than any other.
“We were fighting a legal battle off the field and trying to also win over the world on the field, win over the world’s hearts and minds and prove ourselves,” Alex Morgan said ahead of a rematch against the Netherlands. “This time around, we don’t have to worry about anything off the field. All we have to worry about is putting the work in, doing everything we need to do from sun up to sun down to get our bodies and our minds right for the next game in front of us and that feels really good.”
Morgan shared a sense of relief now that the equal pay battle…
