On July 7, 2019, after a dominating tournament showing, the U.S. women’s national team brings home a record fourth FIFA World Cup title—its second in a row.
Held in host country France, the 2-0 final saw the United States facing the Netherlands, with the first goal scored in the match’s 61st minute. Following a video review, it was determined U.S. forward Alex Morgan, 30, had been fouled inside the penalty box, and forward Megan Rapinoe, 34, converted the penalty kick.
Eight minutes later, midfielder Rose Lavelle, 24, scored again on an 18-yard shot. Both Rapinoe and Lavelle had suffered hamstring injuries earlier in the tournament but were cleared to play. Rapinoe was awarded the tournament’s Golden Ball (for best player) and Golden Boot (for most goals—she tied Morgan and Ellen White of England with six a piece, but Rapinoe played fewer minutes).
The team set a women’s World Cup record with 26 goals and 12 straight wins, tying Germany as the only teams to score repeat championships. With four World Cup wins—in 1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019—the U.S. is the only team to have won more than two titles (no country other than Germany has won more than one title). The team’s 13-0 thrashing of Thailand in its opening match also set a record of most goals and largest margin of victory in a single World Cup game—by either men or women.
At the end of the final, fans chanted “Equal pay!” in support of an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit by players Morgan, Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn against the U.S. Soccer Federation.
