President Obama Recognizes U.S. Women’s Soccer’s World Cup Victory

President Barack Obama invited the recent 2015 Women’s World Cup champion U.S. women’s soccer team to the White House yesterday for a ceremony to honor the team on winning the tournament back in July.

The U.S. defeated Japan in a 5-2 match that saw the team win their first World Cup in 16 years and a viewership in the U.S. breaking records for people that tuned in to watch the game. “This team taught all of America’s children that ‘playing like a girl’ means you’re a badass,” Obama said. “They’ve inspired millions of girls to dream bigger and, by the way, inspired millions of boys to look at girls differently, which is just as important.”

During the 11-minute speech, he touched upon midfielder Carli Lloyd who scored three goals in the World Cup final game, even alluding to the Wikipedia change that happened on Lloyd’s page from “midfielder” to “president of the United States” on which he commented, “I guarantee you Carli knows more about being president than some of the folks who are running. But that’s a whole other — that’s a whole other topic of conversation.” He turned to a serious note when praising Abby Wambach’s final World Cup appearance saying, “I’m not sure [Abby] could have written a better ending: a world champion at last, draped in the Stars and Stripes, showing us all how far we’ve come -– on and off the field –- by sharing a celebratory kiss with her wife.”

To end the ceremony, the team gave Obama a soccer jersey with his name and the number 44 representing the current number president he is.

Photo: WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 27: US President Barack Obama holds a jersey given to him by the World Champion United States Women’s National Soccer Team, in the East Room of the White House October 27, 2015 in Washington, DC. President Obama hosted the event to honor the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Article by Ryan Kappy