On Wednesday night, lines of Portland Thorns and Seattle Reign fans snaked out of Providence Park. It was the first Thorns home game since the USA's 5-2 victory over Japan in the Women's World Cup final on July 5 and people were eager to see U.S. stars like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath.
Thorns fan Tom Barrett said the 1999 Women's World Cup victory inspired more women to start playing soccer and the 2015 win reinforced it.
"I think the next step beyond playing soccer is to get people a job," Barrett said. "For the men, now there is this whole system where you can be a professional soccer player in our country and the women are working on that. It's not clear if it's really going to work but hopefully it will. I think it helps solidify it as more of a profession in our country rather than a dream."
The Women's World Cup was the television event of the summer. For the final game, 25.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the U.S. beat Japan. It surpassed the previous U.S. soccer viewership record of 18.2 million set when the U.S. Men's National Team took on Portugal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Barrett and his daughter attended the final game in Vancouver, B.C. He said his family loves soccer and that it was a festive atmosphere he will always remember. His daughter Quinn, 12, plays soccer for the Tualatin Hills United Soccer Club.
"It was awesome, it was cool to see them win and all of Carli's Lloyd's goals," Quinn said.
Several local soccer clubs made the trip to Wednesday night's Thorns game, including the Salem-based Capital FC Timbers. The 32 players in attendance from the Salem club were on the sidelines when the teams warmed up before Wednesday's match.
The World Cup performances inspired many of the young club players.
"It makes you want to do more with soccer and become someone else," 13-year-old Capital FC Timbers player Amani Noor said. "You see them and you realize you want to become that someday."
Many older fans who were at the game remembered the previous U.S. Women's World Cup title in 1999. Capital FC Timbers team manager James Sinks said during '99 his oldest daughter was just getting into soccer, which brought him into the sport as well.
"In 1999 I was just starting coaching with my eldest daughter," Sinks said. "We saw an initial wave of interest because of that first round of soccer. It's different now; soccer is huge in America and the tide is rising for soccer."
The Thorns lost the game 1-0 to the Seattle Reign, but Wednesday night's game had a bigger scope for women's soccer. In addition to experiencing their first sellout crowd of 21,144 fans, the Thorns also broke their own NWSL attendance record of 19,123 set against the Houston Dash on Aug. 3, 2014.
"Since the U.S. did so well it's going to obviously inspire a lot of girls to do their best on the field and try to be like them," Thorns fan Megan Vaughn, 13, said. "Maybe the younger girls can become the next World Cup Champions. That would be pretty cool."
--Alexandria Valdez
