The US Women’s National Team takes on favorite Germany on Tuesday night — and they can draw inspiration from an unusual source. The US women’s team has far surpassed the US Men’s team in World Cup accomplishments. The US women have won the World Cup twice, whereas the US men had what was generally considered a strong World Cup in Brazil in 2014, making the round of 16. For the women’s team, anything but being crowned world champs is falling short. For the men, getting to the semifinals would be an unprecedented accomplishment (excepting a third place in 1930).
But the 2014 men’s performance was seen as something to build on — and the team has made good on its promise. This June, they completed perhaps the best month in US soccer ever, defeating the Netherlands 4-3 and then, in a shock, taking down the reigning World Cup champion Germany — in Germany — 2-1. The US men had never beaten Germany in Germany before. So in a reversal, the US Women’s National Team can finally find some inspiration in the men’s performance — the way the men have been inspired by the women’s success in the past.
