CreditMark Kauzlarich/The New York Times
The championship women of United States soccer were showered with confetti and streamers and outright love on Friday as they became the first team of female athletes to be honored with a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan.
The tens of thousands of fans who lined the parade route served as a bookend to the record television audience of 25.4 million that watched last Sunday as the team captured the Women’s World Cup in Canada with a 5-2 victory over Japan. Both were emblematic moments that testified to the growing popularity and appreciation in the United States of both soccer and women’s sports.