Joy & Juxtaposition. An important game? Or putting on a show?

Reflections on a momentous occasion in London, as the reigning European Champions and reigning World Champions meet this evening at Wembley Stadium, albeit amidst the tumult of a difficult week.

The US Women’s National Team is in London this week for an elevated occasion, slightly obstructed. Just a few hours from writing this, a sold out arena of 90,000 women’s football fans await the fate of the World Champs and the Euro Champs.

A lot has changed since their last convening—- the decorated Americans and the surging Lionesses. And a great many eyes will train carefully on the chips as they fall tonight at Wembley Stadium, one of the world’s grandest cradles of the game. 

This “friendly” match will- as players and pundits readily point out- be an affair to recall for quite some time. 

But in the background of this event (and the foreground of its every press conference) is the unavoidable reality of abuse, corruption and neglect that these athletes had to wade through in order to arrive to this day. 

Joy

Noticeable, though, in my opinion, is the insistence and ability to find joy. 

It seeps through the cracks of tears in a press conference, it’s present in Crystal Dunn’s smile as she apologizes for her “stilettos”, clicking her way to the mic in cleats. It’s blasting from speakers as the team warms up, as in between stretches there’s a dance battle. You can feel it watching as they walk out to train at Wembley, the occasion of what’s to come felt everywhere in the air.

It’s there in the jokes and candor and incredible poise of young women very accustomed to speaking very publicly and very poignantly about a great number of very difficult things. 

You can feel the anger, the disappointment, the lines in the sand, enough. But you can see the joy, also. And the players were tell you it’s there, too: 

Lindsey Horan spoke to media Wednesday, and after answering a cascade of difficult questions about playing for clubs where the rot ran rank, Lindsey was asked about tonight’s match: 

“... I do want to remind everyone that this game is so incredibly cool. These are the games that we want to play in, these are massive. You’re playing against England, again, one of the top teams in the world. And in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley. You know, you can’t get better than that.”

Crystal Dunn spoke next, stating first: “I’d be lying if I said we were doing well”. Dunn- like her teammates speaking to media this week- has played for the clubs and men implicated in the report. But she and her teammates are finding joy in each other, and in the game: 

“... even though it is not going to be easy to do, I would encourage us all to really just take a second and remember that what we do on the field is incredible. And unfortunately, the joy sometimes is taken away.  I just really would encourage all my teammates to try to find it [joy] every step of the way, any place that you can find it. Because the sport that we get to play, we truly love.”

Sitting in the press room at Wembley yesterday afternoon, Megan Rapinoe was asked if that was possible. Could they find joy this week, given what’s been revealed in the report?: 

Rapinoe responded carefully that, yes, it was possible to find joy. And the reason for that joy has everything to do with the achievements of two teams meeting on either side tonight: 

“There’s a reason we are at Wembley right now. There’s a reason there’s 90,000 people coming. There’s a reason that these 2 particular teams have stretched way past the field and done something really special. I feel like this is a really special moment in women’s football.” 

And for anyone wondering, why the big deal over a friendly, she added:

“I know it’s just a friendly, but it does mean more than that. I think it symbolizes more than that.”

Sharing that this would be a special career moment for her, Rapinoe added: “The juxtaposition is crazy”.

Juxtaposition

It has been one year now since US Soccer acquired the investigative services of former US Attorney General, Sally Yates, to delve into the mire of accusations cascading across NWSL, implicating abusers of various nature and at various levels of the women’s game. 

The full report met public eyes on Monday, just as the US Women’s National Team landed in London to embark on a pair of friendlies against England and Spain. Its comprehensive findings, painstakingly detailed, are horrific— even more horrific than many of the players or public had already thought. You can read the full report here. 

In between training, the team has been reading the report themselves, speaking to one another, supporting one another, and then, with incredible poise, speaking to the press. Veteran leader Becky Sauerbrunn spoke first, and you can read her pointed and unequivocal remarks here. 

As Becky Sauerbrunn, Alana Cook, Lindsey Horan, Crystal Dunn, and Megan Rapinoe took the turns at the microphone, a few trends in their thoughts became clear, felt and echoed by all.

The first is anger and disappointment, but followed immediately by demands that those responsible be held to account. They each emphasized, though, that this wasn’t just NWSL. This is happening, very likely, all over the world, and in various levels of women’s (and girl’s) sport. 

Horan, who plays for Lyon in France: 

“This isn’t just the NWSL. This is women’s football in general. It’s women in general. We have these problems all over the world. You know it’s a global, systemic problem…”

She added, pointedly:

“This is all over the world and being a player in Europe right now, I know that.”

The players spoke at length, also, about the conflicting feelings conjured by representing- or having represented- clubs implicated in the report. Crystal Dunn: 

“Yeah I think that it’s probably one of the hardest things as players that we are facing now is feeling a sense of pride in playing. The jersey’s that we’re wearing, it’s hard to be happy in them, it’s hard to find joy in wearing it.”

Their demands for accountability are unequivocal. Their temperaments are calm. They feel this is a global problem, and hope this is a starting point. Their intentions are on finding joy, however marked by juxtaposition. With demands for accountability as the foundation, they hope the sport can now, officially, move on.

 An important game

Perhaps I detect emotion where it doesn’t reside, but when USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski was asked if he looked forward to a “technical battle” with England manager, Sarina Wiegman, I swear I saw a smirk. He responded saying, actually,  this wasn’t an important game. 

This wasn’t the World Cup, Vlatko elaborated, and this wasn’t the Olympics. This was a friendly. Both sides would try things out, and we would see. 

A colleague later remarked- as we stood before the grass at Wembley Stadium, watching the Americans come out to train- that, well, in regard to this game’s “non-importance”, I don’t think Megan Rapinoe would agree. 

Watching athletes like Rapinoe train is interesting. She’s boisterous, camera-ready, always smiling, and then the whistle blows. And then she is just tearing through her sprint, working through her drills, like, I have to be the fastest, I have to run the hardest, I don’t care if this is a warm-up, I have to win. 

That element of Rapinoe’s character- the near maniacal need to win- is, I think, the embodiment of the inherited identity of the US Women’s Team. 

These are elite athletes and fierce competitors. This is a team operating on an inherited ethos of bloodlust, collecting trophy after trophy seemingly on the pure and endless fuel of unmatched and unabashed desire to win. 

Sure, this is “just” a friendly. And every single player, including Rapinoe, was exceptionally deferential to the state of the Lionesses, aware of their momentous circumstances, cautious in comparing themselves, stressing that the US squad is not “World Cup ready”.

They’re here to learn, and they’ll need a year (to prepare), they say. 

But make no mistake. This team wants to win. Whatever happens at Wembley tonight will matter a good deal more than your typical friendly would to whichever side is victorious.

And it may light a useful fire inside whichever side is not.

Putting on a show

England has always been a good team. But recently, they’ve become great. And most notably, they’re not scared— of anyone, not anymore. The most decorated women’s side on the planet doesn’t intimidate like it did before. England has a trophy, has momentum, has a swagger to their step. 

The champions of Europe have made waves in their home nation, easing into the WSL season with record crowd after record crowd. They’re cohesive, they’re lethal, they’re in tournament form. They’ll play before 90,000 supporters in their home, at Wembley. 

The Americans are evolving through generations, figuring things out. Perhaps Vlatko downplayed the match’s “importance” in order to emphasize instead that his squad is here to play the European Champions so that they can learn things about themselves. And with those lessons, prepare for next year. 

Regardless- “important”, not “important”, win, lose- this evening will be a celebration of how much the women’s game has grown. It will be an acknowledgement of the attention that the height of it can attract. And on both sides of the pitch, they’ll play to celebrate that fact. As they told the media, the plan is to put on a show.