(CNN) Megan Rapinoe and her team did what Donald Trump told them to do — they finished the job. Now the question is, how will the President honor World Cup winners who have carved out a remarkable political and societal legacy?
USA's win over the Netherlands in the World Cup final in France on Sunday did not just spark celebrations among their fans. It validated the team's status as icons whose willingness to go beyond soccer soundbites inspired youngsters, created critics who chafed at their politics and challenged perceptions of how athletes should behave.
A public feud between Rapinoe and Trump during the tournament pulled her team into the political storm that constantly rages around the President.
But the star forward's success in leading her team to glory made a statement that resonated far beyond partisan politics. The USA team is driving the evolution in women's soccer -- which lacks the support and attention in the game's traditional heartlands in Europe and South America that it has in the US but is beginning to catch on.
And in the United States, the national team is fighting a lawsuit to be paid the same as their male counterparts, becoming an emblem of the wider movement to end the gender wage gap.
The team's triumph also comes as other female athletes, like 15-year-old Coco Gauff at Wimbledon and the five-time world champion USA women's hockey team break their own sporting barriers and confirm the promise of Title IX non-discrimination for female athletes.
Its outspoken members also connect with an era of shifting societal attitudes that led to the #MeToo movement which exposed generations of sexual harassment in business, the media, the arts and Hollywood -- as Democratic women candidates are lining up for the chance to take on Trump in 2020.
On the face of it, the USA World Cup winners ought to be the kind of cause the President can quickly embrace, since they are the epitome of one interpretation of his motto, "America First."
But while other key political figures from all sides of the ideological spectrum quickly tweeted rapturous praise, it took Trump several hours to offer his congratulations.
Source : CNN sports
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