Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer, on WNYC. We don't just get to preview the World Cup, we get to give you the first scores. Host station Australia-- Nations, I should say, Australia and New Zealand both won their group stage matches against the Republic of Ireland, too bad, Ireland is a local favorite, and Norway, respectively, this morning. Records have already been broken.

Reuters reports the crowd of 42,000+ bested the host nation's previous record for an international soccer match, men's or women's. The number one ranked US women's national team enters this World Cup as the most dominant team on the world stage, with four World Cup medals, and if they win this one, they'll have won three consecutive World Cups, but the team is in flux.

We'll talk about what's on offer as the best women's teams vie to dethrone the defending world champions from the US, and we'll talk about some of the important stories off the pitch, off the field, as well, with Macaela MacKenzie, journalist and author of Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism, new book out this year. Macaela, welcome to WNYC. Thanks for coming on today.

Macaela MacKenzie: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Were you watching this morning? How were the early games involving New Zealand and Australia?

Macaela MacKenzie: Pretty exciting. My husband is actually Australian, so we are used to the time difference and having a crazy schedule, but I think it's been exciting to see how many people are planning their days around these wild broadcast times all over the world.

Brian Lehrer: New Zealand's Hannah Wilkinson scored an incredible goal to beat Norway. It was a bit of an upset too. Can you describe that goal in words?

Macaela MacKenzie: Oh, gosh, that is a great question. I think what I love so much about women's sports is that all of the goals just-- They feel bigger. Everything that's happening in the fight for equality in sports, and specifically in soccer, it represents more than just a single goal on the pitch. I think we see that in the audience reactions as well. There's a wild fervor that we're seeing happen in this World Cup, and it's just getting kicked off. I'm really excited to see what happens over the next month.

Brian Lehrer: Apart from the US, who are the other main contenders, and what other teams will you be watching?

Macaela MacKenzie: Well, the US is definitely the favorite going into this World Cup, but as you mentioned, this team is in flux. We have a lot of injuries with some of the veterans that are not going to be playing, unfortunately, in the World Cup this summer. Other teams that have always been competitive, and are certainly going to be teams to watch this year, are team Canada, who won the Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, they are definitely going to be a huge contender, as well as Sweden, Norway, host nation Australia.

I think we're going to see some really exciting things from them, but yes, this is definitely the most competitive field for Women's World Cup that we've ever seen, which is really the result of a lot of the investments that have been made in the women's game over the past four years, specifically. I think this is just going to be some of the best soccer that we've seen in our modern era.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Listeners, we have about five minutes for you to call in, and say what team you're following, what player you're following, or just root on the team, from whatever country you're from, or into, in a few seconds a piece, 212-433-WNYC. It can be a slogan, a bumper sticker, a length rallying cry for your team, or anything else you want to say real quick, about any specific player, any specific team, the Women's World Cup in general, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Call or text with Macaela MacKenzie, whose new book is Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism. To that point, Macaela, let's talk about some of the stories off the pitch. The US women's national team and the US Soccer Federation settled an equal pay lawsuit last year. Remind people briefly, how wide was the pay gap between the men and women on their national teams, and what's been the result of the settlement.

Macaela MacKenzie: This settlement is historic in that US Soccer became the first federation to equalize pay between the men's and women's teams. The thing that's important to understand about these pay gaps is that you're talking about them at two levels. One, what the federation is responsible for doling out between both teams, and then, also, the prize money pay gap at the level of FIFA.

What this last CBA did was equalize prize money between the US men's and women's teams, which means that any prize money that the women's team brings home, any prize money that the men's team brings home, all goes into a pool to be distributed equally between both the men's national team and the women's national team players, which is huge. This year, at the Women's World Cup, we are seeing the most prize money that we've ever seen.

The total prize pool is $110 million, which is really exciting. That's over three times what it was in the 2019 World Cup, when the prize money was just $30 million for the winning federation, but there's still a massive pay gap. That's just 25% of the prize money that's offered during the Men's World Cup. We're seeing progress, but women's soccer is still facing this absolutely enormous gulf.

Brian Lehrer: I want to mention that the fight for equality within the sport is about more than money. The 2015 Women's World Cup was played on artificial turf rather than grass, putting players at risk of turf burn, and even more serious injuries. Why did they make that decision? By gender? Is that era over?

Macaela MacKenzie: Yes, thankfully, that era is over. That's been a huge push by both the US Women's National Team Players Association as well as other players' associations around the world. Host nation Australia, that was one of their big points of contention in their last CBA negotiation. It's cheaper and easier to play on artificial turf fields, but as you mentioned, the risk of injury is a lot higher.

I think, as we're seeing in this World Cup, injury is a huge issue in women's sports, and there's a huge research gap in understanding why women's players are more susceptible to certain injuries, like ACL tears. This stuff matters. It might seem like it's a minor nuance to the average fan, but real grass versus artificial turf is huge, and luckily, we are seeing the end of that era now.

Brian Lehrer: You write in your book that there were almost no women in ownership positions across the league's 10 teams prior to 2021, and to unleash the value of the women in the league, something needed to change. Did something change?

Macaela MacKenzie: It did. It is. I think there's still a long road to go, as all of these conversations about equality in sport. There's still a lot of progress to be made, but there have been some really exciting moves in the NWSL, which is the home league of women's soccer here in the US. I specifically write about Angel City, which is the new LA-based team, that's made huge headlines because it has a lot of celebrity owners. It is majority owned by Alexis Ohanian.

They have made just incredible progress when it comes to selling out arenas, when it comes to compensating players, and really, when I talked to the leaders behind the team, and those who were putting together the ownership group, they spoke to the power of having women in these positions, and really being able to approach this old-storied way of running a team, doing it in a different way, seeing real results because of that.

Brian Lehrer: Let's see. I think David, in Brooklyn, is going to try to put into words that Hannah Wilkinson goal for New Zealand this morning. David, you're on WNYC. Can you do it in 15 seconds? David, you there?

David: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Hello.

David: Yes, I'm here.

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead. You saw that Wilkinson goal?

David: Yes, I'm here. No, the New Zealand one I'm talking about.

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

David: It was such a good goal. This is a goal you would see from players like Messi, Maradona, Vinícius Júnior, Garrincha, Pelé, Kaka, and Ronaldinho. It's a spectacular goal. No hiding about that. I hope they go far. I hope they make progress in the World Cup.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. We're talking about the same goal, scored by Hannah Wilkinson for the New Zealand team. Ronald, in Crown Heights, is going to get to shout out his team. Hi, Ronald. You're on WNYC.

Ronald: Yes, good morning. I'm following team Haiti, and I'm following one of the top players in the world, Melchie Dumornay. She's one of the top in the world, and they are playing England tomorrow morning, 7:30 in the morning.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. We're almost out of time. I learned from your book, Macaela, that more than a billion people tuned in to the 2019 Women's World Cup, this is the first one since then. Do you think there's a reason that soccer, more than other sports, if you think it is more than other sports, is breaking out, where people watch women as much as men?

Macaela MacKenzie: Yes, that's a great question. I think soccer is unique in that it is a truly global sport. Soccer, in general, enjoys a huge fandom, over more specifically American sports, like baseball or basketball, for example, even though they do have an international presence as well. I think why soccer has been so successful at drawing these massive crowds, that really speak to a bigger cultural movement, is because of the issues that they've spoken out so publicly on.

They have really taken this fight for equal pay and turned it into this cultural movement beyond something that's just about a pay dispute between--

Brian Lehrer: That has to be the last word. Macaela MacKenzie's book is Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism. Enjoy watching the matches.

Macaela MacKenzie: Thanks, Brian.

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