I'm so proud of this team. I love this team and there's a lot of players I'd like to give major props to. Ali Kreiger consistent starter this past decade up until after the olympics. Was exiled by Jill Ellis for no real reason and gets her first call up in 3 years this past April. Alyssa Naeher is no Hope Solo and everyone made sure to scream it to the skies this World Cup and she comes up big when her team needed her the most in the Semi-finals. Crystal Dunn plays as a winger/striker for her club and was only playing left back because we didn't have anybody else to play there and she was excellent throughout. Sam Mewis was not a starter on this team and she stepped up big when nobody expected her. Rose Lavelle has had huge troubles with her hamstring ever since she first got called up and I knew that she would be a difference if she remained healthy and now she can say she scored in a World Cup final.
As good as this team is, I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I knew this team was good, but a lot of other teams had made significant strides and I thought this team would struggle against teams that played a defensive game. And they blew it right out of the water. And everything was thrown at them from the media, the fans, the players, our own ****ing President and they took everything in stride and marched to their own tune. I could tell right from the beginning of this tournament that this team was different from 4 years ago and it wasn't just the personnel. Their attitude was that they were going their own way and they were going to win.
As for the rest of the teams, look at the growth of the quality of this tournament. A decade ago, Spain, Netherlands, England, Italy were nowhere to be found. Fast forward to this tournament, all of them made it into the knockout rounds and all the way to the finals. The growth of the women's game is incredible and the games that we played against were not cake walks. The quality of teams is only going to get better and I'm excited to see what the next world cup brings.
I'm just so proud of this team. Champions again.