You Go Girls!

The US Women's National Soccer Team won their third World Cup last night.  They looked absolutely dominant against Japan, which is something that no US Soccer team could really claim to be at such a high level.  Which is sort of odd, given the fact that, even though Soccer is far from the most popular sport in this country, we certainly have a leg up on most of the world in terms of total dedication and perhaps even obsession with athletes and sports.
The men's national team has never managed to ascend to the heights that the women have occupied over the past two decades, because what most of the world calls football is only just catching on here.  What we are exporting on the other hand is so much more important that I almost can't help getting a little star-spangled when I even think about it.  What we are exporting is the notion that women are strong and capable and able to do great things.  The skill and the speed of the women's game is not a step down from the men's game, the game is not popular because of the clothes they wear (thank God Sepp Blatter didn't get his way), the game is popular for the same reason futbol is popular all over the world, because it is global.
On my recent trip to Spain, I had the opportunity to watch some La Liga games in Spanish bars with Spanish crowds.  I watched Real Madrid lose to Juventus (an Italian team) in the semifinal game of the European Championship and I was on the edge of my seat with the rest of the crowd.  I saw the FC Barcelona Jerseys start to appear when they won the championship a week later.  I have seen kids in Guatemala playing soccer on a dirt field with a volleyball covered in duct tape.  I know the power that this game has beyond our borders.
And so, I may be putting a lot on the shoulders of Carly Lloyd and her teammates but I am so very happy that they are representing the notion that girls and women ought to be allowed to do the same things that the boys do and that they should be given an arena to achieve the ultimate goal.  They should be honored for the merit of their achievement and not have it overshadowed by the male version (in our country they can't be, and probably won't be for a while).
They may be representing our nation, and that's all good and fine, but more importantly they are representing women from around the world who are not allowed to play games (or even show their ankles).  Their victory shows the world, that while we may have our difficulties, we are miles ahead of the world in the way we empower our women and girls.  What I saw last night was not just "good for a girl" it was good, period.  That needs to get out there.
It needs to get out there because the world is a dark an brutal place for a lot of women who do not have the good fortune to be born in a place where they are considered (at least in the eyes of the law) as equal to men.  We have our issues, before Title IX, women's athletics were the backwater and the afterthought of varsity athletics.  It took a sweeping and sometimes controversial edict from the top to change that, slowly.  We still struggle for income equality between men and women, but it is at least a known issue.
That's the crux of the issue: in America, women are pushing for that last bit of equality that allows them to stand shoulder to shoulder in full sunlight with men.  In much of the world women are still trying to glimpse the daylight from under the shadow of patriarchal systems and seemingly insurmountable oppression.
The beautiful game can reach those places.  It can plant a seed, an idea, a glimmer of hope.
We are growing to appreciate the world's game more and more.  It's only fair that we give them something back, let's give them the notion that women are strong, and fast, and powerful, that they're not property to be hidden in the dark, they are fully able to stand in the light.