JOHN YANG: The women's
World Cup kicked off
in Paris this weekend.

And once again, as Lisa
Desjardins returns to tells us,
the Americans are favored to

win it all.

LISA DESJARDINS: The U.S. team
takes the field tomorrow against
Thailand in its opening match,

with high hopes of hoisting
the cup about a month from now.

The Americans have won three
World Cups since the women's
competition first began in the

'90s.

But the competition
may be closing in.

France, England and Germany
are all considered threats.

For the U.S., there's also
a most unusual backdrop.

Members of the team
sued the U.S. Soccer
Federation this spring over
longstanding allegations

of gender discrimination and
violations of the Equal Pay Act.

To help unpack all of this, I'm
joined by the great Christine
Brennan, a sportswriter

and sports columnist
for USA Today.

Christine, welcome.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA
Today: Thanks, Lisa.

Great to be here.

LISA DESJARDINS: Let's
start with this World Cup.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: All right,
the U.S. team has dominated
since there were rankings at

all.

What are their strengths,
what are their possible
vulnerabilities this year?

Tell us about this team.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Lisa,
this is a veteran team.

And I think for every viewer
who remembers Brandi Chastain
going back 20 years now, Mia

Hamm, this is the
next generation.

And they are strong, and they're
ranked number one in the world.

And they should
win the World Cup.

Not saying they will, because
competition - - it's the
greatest day in women's soccer

today, until tomorrow, in
terms of the level of play.

And that's just around the
world, not just the U.S.

But this is a veteran team, 12
returning players from the 2015
team that won the World Cup

in Canada.

The names are Alex Morgan.

You have got Megan Rapinoe.

(CROSSTALK)

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: You
have Carli Lloyd, who was
the star of the 2015 team.

Megan Rapinoe is someone who
actually took a knee in support
of Colin Kaepernick at one

game.

So, you have got someone who
is also very socially active.

She is an out athlete and she
was the first openly gay athlete
to be on the cover of -- on

"Sports Illustrated"
in the swimsuit issue.

So you have got
story lines galore.

LISA DESJARDINS: Who's
the biggest competition?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Without
a doubt, it's France.

I mean, obviously,
they're the host.

Lots of pressure on them.

They have never, ever gotten
to the level where they would
win either a World Cup or

an Olympics.

Interestingly, if the U.S.
does what it's supposed to do,
France does what it's supposed

to do, they will meet
in the quarterfinals.

One of the top two teams,
three teams in the world would
go out in the quarterfinals.

LISA DESJARDINS: What I love
about this team, they can strike
from up close, but they can

strike from crazy far away,
like the middle of the field.

I will put in a word for my
favorite, number 9, Lindsey
Horan, who I'm watching.

But let's talk more about
this cultural story.

Tell us what these
women are trying to do.

It is the entire team
that has sued U.S. Soccer,
saying that they are not
given the same treatment

as the men and not the same pay.

In some cases, they say half the
pay, yet they play more games.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Right.

This is a story line that's
been going again really since
'99, because right after they

won that World Cup, and were the
only story ever in the history
of stories to be the cover

of "TIME," "Newsweek,"
"People," "Sports Illustrated,"
all the way back 20
years ago, in the Rose

Bowl that beautiful day, July
10, 1999, not that I remember.

But then, within a few
months, they were striking.

And this has been a constant
battle with their Federation
over travel conditions, over pay

conditions, over the opportunity
to market themselves, and
missed opportunities galore.

LISA DESJARDINS: And the turf,
even at some - - they sometimes
were playing on not as good,

Astroturf.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Four
years ago, Lisa, absolutely.

In Canada, the men would
never play on artificial turf.

The women were forced to play
an artificial turf, which
you can get more injuries.

It's just a tougher
surface to play on.

So, women have been
second-class citizens in
soccer from the get-go.

And in this case,
they're very busy right
now focusing on soccer.

But when they get back, that
conversation about gender
equity is going to keep coming

up.

And then -- and the gap is
extraordinary between what the
men make and what the women make

around the world.

And, of course, the U.S. men
are nowhere near as good or
obviously winning as many titles

as the women are.

LISA DESJARDINS: U.S. Soccer
has said that these are
different groups of players with

different contracts and
doing different jobs.

The women say that's not true,
that they're doing the same
job, in fact, sometimes working

harder.

But, also, you hear sometimes
U.S. Soccer officials say,
listen, women do not bring

as much revenue in, and
that's why that they're
not getting paid as much.

They don't always make that
argument, but they have.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN:
Sure they have.

LISA DESJARDINS:
How do you see that?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes.

Well, what the women's say in
return, Lisa, is that they're
not getting the opportunities,

the Federation is not marketing
them, and not thinking
of ways to market them.

And so, if you're not marketing
them, then you may not be
making the same kind of money.

Certainly, worldwide, soccer
is that last bastion of male
supremacy, and the ingrained

sexism and misogyny in European
soccer, in South American
soccer is extraordinary.

And that is exactly the world
that the U.S. Federation is in.

They have done some good things.

But I think, because they are
in the U.S., they're getting
the kind of scrutiny that

they should get and that
an American audience
demands, especially in
regards to how we treat

our daughters, our
sisters as they grow up.

And I think that's -- that's
the reason this conversation
-- but there -- this is a team

that wins.

This is a team that
wins all the time.

And that should mean something,
I think, in this conversation.

LISA DESJARDINS:
Christine Brennan, always
good to have you here.

And we will watch another
U.S. team that could make
history on a few levels.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Absolutely.

LISA DESJARDINS: Thank you.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Thanks Lisa.