With its 2-1 victory over England yesterday, the United States women’s soccer team secured a birth in the World Cup Final Sunday evening in Lyon. Perhaps you knew this already.

Our national soccer team has been making quite a splash in recent weeks, not necessarily for what it has done on the pitch. Kind of a shame, considering the stream of stellar performances put forth by Team USA. Perhaps you were more familiar with the associated political comments on various social media sites.

It is said that the two best teams at this year’s World Cup are the American starting lineup and the American reserve squad. Yeah, we’re that good.

Know why?

Despite what you may have read on the Twitter, the United States of America is the place where people of both (all?) sexes are permitted to achieve. To excel. And to make money.

In other parts of the world (and at other times here and everywhere) women cannot play sports. They can’t vote. They can’t drive. They can’t be seen in public without their husbands or fathers. They can’t be seen at all beyond a narrow slit for their eyes through otherwise total body-obscuring garb. And they’re certainly not allowed to post political comments on Twitter.

It’s amazing to me that in the United States today it seems a greater act of bravery to stand with our country than against it. (Think about that for a minute.) Those who speak out against our current administration are feted. Those who side with our President and his associates are mostly laughed at or dismissed in some manner, no? (And the examples are few and far between.)

Okay, try criticizing the government in some random foreign country some time.

Let’s just say you won’t be starring on their soccer team.