No One In the World Is More Lit Than the U.S. Women's Soccer Team Right Now

Happy Hump Day to all, but mostly to the winners of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, the U.S. Women's National Team! (Yes, I'm biased; I'm a former soccer player with a now defunct dream of playing in the World Cup.)

It's been three short days since the women's team took the grand prize after an electrifying final game against the Netherlands, but it feels like just yesterday that we watched midfielder (and first time World Cup athlete!) Rose Lavelle  (opens in new tab)score the winning goal and help her team clinch their fourth World Cup win. Since their big victory, the gang has yet to stop celebrating—just this morning, the USWNT rolled through New York City's Canyon of Heroes for a ticker-tape parade, flanked on every side by adoring fans.

Soccer icon and overall badass Megan Rapinoe gave a rousing speech at the ceremony, thanking her teammates for their resilience and hard work. She then called for Americans, like the USWNT, to come together. "This is my charge to everyone, we have to be better," the team caption expressed passionately. "We have to love more, hate less." The call-to-action is characteristic of Rapinoe, who is known for being as passionate about activism and social justice (opens in new tab) as she is about the game of soccer itself.

During the parade, the members of the USWNT could be seen dancing and singing and waving to the sea of supporters who had braved the crowds to see the champions in person.

And according to goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris's Instagram stories, the turn up behind the scenes was super real. The USWNT traded their water bottles for bottles of Ace of Spades (only the good stuff for the world champions!) and got to celebrating.

Despite the copious amounts of champagne consumed during the parade, the team was not too turnt to address their ongoing lawsuit (opens in new tab) against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body of the sport in this country. The USWNT is suing the league for equal pay, fighting the wide wage gap between themselves and the men's national team. For context, the USWNT makes approximately $5,000 per game in comparison to the $13,000 that USMNT makes, even though the women's team has won more games and brings in more revenue (opens in new tab).

The lawsuit was filed in March, and though much of the team's efforts since went towards training for the month-long World Cup and then actually competing in the games, it's now full steam ahead on the fight for equal pay.

Midfielder Allie Long made a bold statement about the wage disparity at the parade this morning, balling up a page from the lawsuit and literally stuffing it in her mouth.

Talk about keeping that same energy. Get your money, ladies—congratulations again!

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