To some American soccer fans, Sunday will be a feast. To others, it will also be an indication of the lengths the women’s game still has to go to earn respect.
Sunday afternoon in Lyon, France (Sunday morning Eastern time), the U.S. women’s national team will face the Netherlands for the chance at its record fourth World Cup championship and second in a row.
That night in Chicago, seven time zones and more than 4,000 miles away, the U.S. men’s national team will play archrival Mexico for the Gold Cup continental championship, where a win would help reestablish confidence in a program that failed to qualify for the last World Cup.