The Women’s Soccer Team Is Invited to DC — But Not for Trump

The trophy has been hoisted, the ticker tape parade is set for Wednesday, and the U.S. Women's National Team is bringing home its fourth World Cup title.

So what is President Trump going to do?

Going into the final game, it was clear the U.S. had something to prove, not just regarding the president but also to confront the demands that the U.S. Soccer Federation pay them on par with their male counterparts. With their win on Sunday, the team returns home the victors again, and a trip to Washington, D.C. potentially on the books, with an invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit the capitol. The invite comes from Pelosi and the two cochairs of the Congressional Soccer Caucus, reps Darin LaHood (R-Illinois) and Kathy Castor (D-Florida), according to the Washington Post.

Back in June, a reporter from Eight by Eight magazine asked Rapinoe if she was excited about going to the White House, which has become a tradition for America's championship teams. She immediately scoffed and said, "I'm not going to the White House," before adding that she hardly expects to even be invited.

This follows Rapinoe's on-field protest of the U.S. national anthem, which she began years ago as former NFL player Colin Kaepernick led protests from coast to coast to highlight racial inequality and police brutality against people of color.

Of course within hours, Trump fired back, claiming he was a "big fan" of the "American team and Women's Soccer," and added he is "now inviting the TEAM, win or lose." He then lambasted her for disrespecting "our Country, the White House" and the American flag for her protest.

Though Trump did congratulate the team for winning on Sunday, he then told reporters that "we haven't really thought about" inviting the USWNT to the White House. "We'll look at that."

According to USA Today, during the post match press conference, U.S. Coach Jill Ellis said she hadn't been invited yet. A foreign journalist insisted the invitation would come (probably based on what Trump tweeted in June), Ellis said, "Well I wouldn't bet on that."

WNBA player Sue Bird, in a Players Tribune essay about her girlfriend Rapinoe, stressed that Trump had never invited a WNBA championship team to the White House. She also illustrated his administration's inconsistency in inviting other women's championship teams to the White House, including college competitors.

RELATED | USA Takes Home the World Cup, Megan Rapinoe Wins All the Awards