"Thank You Les Bleues"- A Tribute to the French Women's Soccer Team by Fordham Soccer Star Annie Worden

In the aftermath of the US Women's Soccer Team World Cup victory over France, I refuse to share anything that puts that put the French team in a poor light

Those women are my heroes. From my childhood through the years following my college graduation, I was in France every year, every summer, playing pick up games and being the only girl on the field. Nobody would ever want me on their team because I was a girl. In 2016, I finally saw a girls team training next to our pick up game It was a long time coming. I am proud of the growth and support these French women have been able to garner with such little support from the country.

You may not remember from my Fordham days, but I have French citizenship, a French birth certificate and my family lives in Paris. Don't get me wrong, I love the US National Women's Soccer Teams dearly I have played, fought and even lived with some of the starting 11. I am rooting for our ladies and Rapinoe's leadership. I just can’t support anything that takes away from what this French team has done for women’s soccer in France without a title 9 or the youth club/college playing opportunities that we have .

Ever since I could first kick a ball until this past year, I’ve been in France playing games with locals during the summer from Marseille all the way up to Paris, even playing in a few small town pick up tournaments. No one believed in a French female soccer players. Not only has this French team inspired the country to believe in women’s soccer, they have cultivated a new desire for female football greatness. The French team is the rose that grew out of a crack of concrete and inspired beauty, grace and power. They deserve our love and respect.

NOTE: Annie Worden, an Urban Studies major at Fordham, was star of the Fordham Women's Soccer team and played professionally  after her graduation