I got a Gchat message today from a man friend:

Him: “I can’t believe the U.S. did not make the World Cup”

Me: “Yeah”

Him: “First time since 1986”

Mostly because I was busy at work, I paid no mind to the context of this message but it occurred to me later once I saw this Twitter exchange that I did an incredible disservice to this blog and to women in sports by simply not speaking up:

I totally pulled the whole Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail thing when you know exactly what you want to say but AFTER the conversation is over. I wish I could’ve gone back into that Gchat conversation and stood up for the women. I wish I would’ve reminded this man friend that the U.S. Women’s Team is not only currently ranked number 1 in the world but are the reigning FIFA Women’s World Cup champs. Remember that? It was glorious. Some more reminders:

• The Women’s team has medaled in every Olympics from 1996 to 2016
• They won the World Cup in 1991, 1999, and 2015
• They won in 2015 going undefeated
• There are 15 women’s soccer players who have scored 100 or more goals internationally. Four of them are from the U.S.
• Following their 2015 World Cup win, the Women’s Team brought in 3x more revenue than the Men’s team…

and finally, let’s say it all together, Babes, because we know where this is going –

• THEY STILL GET PAID LESS THAN THE MEN

Because of course they do.

To USMNT – so sorry for your loss. Tough one. Since our ladies are classy and awesome, they expressed their sadness for the boys on Twitter:

USWNT will be in our faces again one year from now when World Cup qualifiers begin. And sure, maybe now that the men got knocked out, there will be more pressure for the women to get into the finals. But that begs the question – if that scenario was flipped, would people be putting pressure on the men? Probably not. Such is life.