WATCH: Women's National Soccer Team Parades Through NYC's 'Canyon Of Heroes'
The U.S. Women's National Team is celebrating their World Cup championship with a ticker tape parade in New York City. Throngs of fans packed Manhattan's famed "Canyon of Heroes" to greet the squad led by Megan Rapinoe.
The parade started at 9:30 a.m. ET, when Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and their teammates embarked from Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. From there, the parade moved north up Broadway to City Hall, where a banner declared, "One nation. One team."
As the athletes and coach Jill Ellis made their way through the confetti, the cheers turned from a rumble into a roar. By the time they slowed to a stop at the corner of Broadway and Barclay St. near City Hall, the mood was one of joyful uproar — pandemonium under sunny skies.
"USA! USA! USA!" the crowd shouted, whenever the cheers let up. And referring to the players' push to be paid on equal terms as the men, they also chanted a rhyming phrase: "Equal pay!"
At 10:30 a.m., many of the fans moved to bleachers that were erected outside of City Hall, where Mayor Bill de Blasio is to host a ceremony to mark the team's second consecutive world championship and fourth overall.
Before de Blasio and the athletes took the stage, an all-female Brazilian drumline called Fogo Azul kept the crowd energized, playing for some 15 minutes as strips of paper confetti drifted through the air.
The parade included about a dozen floats, from which players basked in the adulation of their fans. Bearing the U.S. national team's crest — with a new fourth star representing the latest world title — the floats also carried officials and dignitaries along the parade route.
"It's gonna be liiiit," Rapinoe said, drawing out the word as she climbed aboard a float shortly before 9 a.m., with a Champagne flute in her hand.
"NYC it's parade time let's do this!" Kelley O'Hara said via Twitter. She added, "Bonus points to anyone who brings me a beer or 4."
The procession also included a brass band, a double-decker bus, and a phalanx of bagpipers, and rows of motorcycles, beeping their horns. An escort of police vehicles rounded out the parade.
In one street near City Hall, dozens of yellow-vested municipal workers stood behind a barricade, their large pushbrooms at the ready to start the job of cleaning up.
The festivities honored the national team's remarkable run in France, where the U.S. women went undefeated in the World Cup, turning away determined challenges from talented and physical squads such as France, Spain, England and the Netherlands.
Amid the glee over the team's on-field accomplishments, the parade also highlighted the pay disparity between the U.S. national soccer teams: Despite enjoying more success and popularity, the women are paid less than the men, and the female athletes are heading to mediation to try to resolve a lawsuit they filed against U.S. Soccer in March.
On one float near the end of the parade, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood waving a U.S. flag behind defender Crystal Dunn and forward Tobin Heath — who led the crowd in chants of "Equal pay!"
"Parades are cool," a sign held by Dunn read. "Equal pay is cooler."
Despite facing spirited challenges from ascendant European teams, the U.S. women were wildly successful in France. They set a record by scoring 26 goals in the tournament, with a differential of 23 goals — another record that speaks to the defense played by Dunn and other backliners.
The success came despite a number of potential distractions, including the pay dispute. Even President Trump's criticism of Rapinoe, and a mini-controversy over whether the team would visit the White House if it won the title, did not shake the team's focus on delivering on its promise as one of the most talented teams the U.S. has ever put on the field.
For Rapinoe and other veterans of the U.S. women's team, New York's Canyon of Heroes is familiar ground: They were treated to a parade there in 2015, after their last World Cup win.
Since the late 1800s, the famous parade route has honored visiting royalty, astronauts, military leaders and war veterans. It has also celebrated Olympic medalists and championships by New York's Yankees and Giants. [Copyright 2019 NPR]
