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

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

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win it all.

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

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

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

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'90s.

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But the competition
may be closing in.

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France, England and Germany
are all considered threats.

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

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

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of gender discrimination and
violations of the Equal Pay Act.

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

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and sports columnist
for USA Today.

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Christine, welcome.

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN, USA
Today: Thanks, Lisa.

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Great to be here.

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

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes.

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

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all.

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

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Tell us about this team.

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Lisa,
this is a veteran team.

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

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Hamm, this is the
next generation.

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

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And they should
win the World Cup.

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

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

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

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

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in Canada.

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The names are Alex Morgan.

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You have got Megan Rapinoe.

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(CROSSTALK)

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LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

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

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

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game.

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

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

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"Sports Illustrated"
in the swimsuit issue.

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So you have got
story lines galore.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Who's
the biggest competition?

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

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I mean, obviously,
they're the host.

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Lots of pressure on them.

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

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an Olympics.

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

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to do, they will meet
in the quarterfinals.

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

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

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

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

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But let's talk more about
this cultural story.

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Tell us what these
women are trying to do.

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

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as the men and not the same pay.

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

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Right.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Astroturf.

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Four
years ago, Lisa, absolutely.

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

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

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It's just a tougher
surface to play on.

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

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

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

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up.

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

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around the world.

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

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as the women are.

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

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different contracts and
doing different jobs.

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

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harder.

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

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

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

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN:
Sure they have.

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LISA DESJARDINS:
How do you see that?

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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They have done some good things.

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

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

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our daughters, our
sisters as they grow up.

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

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that wins.

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This is a team that
wins all the time.

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

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

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

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Absolutely.

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LISA DESJARDINS: Thank you.

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CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Thanks Lisa.