Well, I think I’m going to wrap this liveblog up. The parade was great, and really heartening to see so many young kids, girls particularly, coming out to see their heroes. And well done to New York for arranging it so quickly: I think it can be qualified as a “great success”. The ceremony at City Hall was dreary, but that’s OK: they won a World Cup. Thanks for reading. Bye.
And, to finish, Abby Wambach, to hearty cheers:
“I think my team-mates and staff know how vital they were to the success of the team, but I can’t discount how vital you fans were.
“This absolutely will go down as one of, if not the best things I have been a part of. What an honour. Mayor, I can’t thank you enough, and you guys made it even better!
“In my opinion, all the women up here believed in that dream, the entire World Cup, and we won the World Cup because none of us ever stopped believing, and neither did you guys. We love you New York City!”
Here’s Carli Lloyd: “I’m a Jersey girl and a Philly fan, but New Yorkers are awesome. The World Cup was a dream come true, but the parade was one of the best moments of my life.”
Now some presentation or other. Special commemorative medals from the city of New York? To be honest, I’ve tuned out. Garber and Gulati killed the vibe!
Heather Mitts introduces Jill Ellis, who talks in a peculiar hybrid English-American accent. Listen to how she says “remarkable” – she’s lived in America for ages and had adopted that hard R sound. It’s rhotic, all right.
“Today was mind-blowing. Thank you, New York. Enjoy! Take care.”
Brief: that’s what we like.
Now Sunil Gulati. Is this just an opportunity for various officials to pontificate on various topics? We want to hear from the players!
Now some words from MLS commissioner Don Garber, who thanks the city of New York for organising a great parade at just two days’ notice.
And words for the fans to come together and support the game of soccer. “We are a soccer nation. Go out and be a fan, watch a game on TV. Thank you New York,” Garber says.
Why the MLS commissioner and not the NWSL president?
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This could be the album version, actually: that extra 32 seconds probably made all the difference.
Now the team is on the stage, and it looks magnificent: Stars and Stripes everywhere, great big “Thank You” flags, and everybody looking smart and happy on this lovely, sunny day.
Now a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, and this is really excellent. Unfortunately I didn’t catch the singer’s name, but I’ll try to find out. She’s fabulous.
They’re still going! Morgan Brian, Lauren Holiday, Megan Rapinoe … Lot of cheers, many high-fives. And all the spectators’ chairs are taken.
Big cheer for Julie Johnston. But the wildest yeaaaaaah is for Abby Wambach, the highest scorer of all time in the women’s game. What a legend.
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Now here’s Robin Roberts to manage the ceremony.
“Mr Mayor, you know how to throw a partayyy! Are you ready to see the team?”
And the players come out individually, to the sounds of Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk: Hope Solo, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara … and so on.
Uptown Funk’s radio edit is officially listed as 3min 58sec. Will they be able to rattle through all 23 players before they have to turn the tape over?
De Blasio rattles off the achievements: biggest TV audience, record three World Cups, first women’s team ever to be honored in a parade.
“Our hearts are with this team. They also brought back a message: about the power of women, the strength of women, and about the need to create a more equal society for all.”
Quite right.
“Young women who grow up will tell their families about that team. This is really what it means to be one nation, one team.”
“My fellow New Yorkers, my fellow Americans – we welcome you to New York City Hall. Are you ready for a party? Then let’s celebrate the world champion US women’s soccer team!”
Here comes the mayor! Let’s do this.
Now it’s Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood! This is more like it.
Survivor have been ditched in favour of We Are The Champions by Queen. Quelle surprise.
They’re nearly there at City Hall. The crowds are building, and everything’s in place. Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger is the accomopanying music. God, that’s so cheesy, isn’t it? My choice? Peters and Lee. It’s a real foot-tapper!
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Here’s that Bill de Blasio interview on how he got into soccer: thanks to his son Dante, and Marco Tardelli. The mayor was in Italy in 1982 when the Azzurri beat West Germany 3-1 to win the World Cup.
Best celebration ever?
Here’s Shannon Boxx:
Wow by far one of the most amazing experiences I have had. Thx NY & thx America 4 being #TheBestFansInTheWorld pic.twitter.com/kZOpDO0KSB
— Shannon Boxx (@ShannonBoxx7) July 10, 2015
And be sure to check out Andy Murray v Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semi-final. It’s dramatic, and there’s much more to come:
Lunchtime summary
We’re just taking a brief pause before the victorious US women’s soccer team attends a ceremony hosted by New York mayor Bill de Blasio at City Hall. But AP has filed a report of the morning’s parade, which gives a good summation:
Throngs of young girls and other flag-waving fans of the US women’s soccer team filled lower Manhattan Friday morning for a ticker-tape parade celebrating its Women’s World Cup victory.
The parade-goers many wearing red, white and blue started gathering at 3.30am along the Canyon of Heroes, a stretch of Broadway where the nation’s largest city has honored its legends. When the parade got underway at 11am, the crowd was as much as 10 deep along the route. Chants of “USA! USA!” were distinctly high-pitched.
It was the first-ever ticker-tape parade in New York for a women’s sports team – a fact not lost on the crowd. A fourth-floor window on a building near the route was decorated with a homemade sign that read “Girl Power” with four American flags.
And here are some more!
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We’ll be following Bill de Blasio’s address at 1pm ET. In the meantime, here’s a selection of pictures from this morning’s parade.
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De Blasio will speak at 1pm at a big ceremony at City Hall. They’re going to take a break in the the meantime – get a sandwich and some sports drinks.
There haven’t been too many tweets from the stars themselves today. I guess it’s hard to compose interesting and imaginative messages while receiving the adulation of hundreds of thousands of people. But the US Soccer federation has been active:
No words. #BestFansInTheWorld pic.twitter.com/dh6cGseM5O
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) July 10, 2015
So the floats are now up at City Hall, where the mayor, Bill de Blasio, is preparing to address the squad on behalf of New Yorkers.
It’s been a really joyous day, helped by it being absolutely beautiful weather. But some people haven’t really got the technique of tossing the confetti into the air:
Parade ends
I think that’s it!
This parade has been jubilant and celebratory, and full of people cheering and clapping, but it’s been somewhat chaotic, and a little difficult to follow. Chaotic, difficult to follow … but that’s enough about this live blog! Honk, parp, etc etc.
Greg Kelly asking young soccer fans if they still have half-time oranges. “Naval oranges, no pits?” The young fans concur: oranges are still in vogue! Philip Marshall used to bring half-time oranges when I was 12 and playing for Barnstone Colts, but I wondered whether they might have been replaced by Gatorade or that water with minerals in it. Mineral water, I think it’s called.
Lauren’s just posted some video. Debris: The Aftermath. (Suggested tagline: Just When You Thought It was Safe to Go Back in the Canyon.) In cinemas this summer.
TICKER TAPE!!! #USWNTParade the aftermath https://t.co/7rDpYG3oCB
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) July 10, 2015
Abby Wambach loves it, per the US Women’s Soccer team Twitter account:
The ticker-tape is raining down and @AbbyWambach loves it!! #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/Ix9klMzy6P
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@ussoccer_wnt) July 10, 2015
And Tobin Heath just yelled from the float: “New York City, America, you guys are awesome! This is the coolest day of my life!”
Meanwhile, the clean-up has begun. There’s so much debris, but the sanitation department has begun, with those little hand-held vacuum type things to hoover everything up. It’s all go!
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Fox just had a really sweet interview with one fan – I think she said she was nine years old – who really loves the women’s team.
Girl: “I’m here to see Hope Solo and Alex Morgan.”
Reporter: “Did you get to see them? What was it like?”
Girl: “It was awesome!”
The Canyon of Heroes is chock-a-block, and some of the early floats have almost reached City Hall. They’re going too fast!
Fox just interviewing some young girls about the effect of USA’s victory on people like them.
“They’re just so inspirational. I thought it was really cool to see all the players who won the World Cup. It was awesome.”
Here’s Megan Rapinoe with De Blasio:
My colleague Paul Owen has captured some footage of the not-ticker-tape:
OK, some pictures are in! I’ll try to post a selection of the best ones:
Sydney Leroux is wearing a red, white and blue top hat. Everyone else is in sunglasses. It’s gorgeous out!
Some family members now. They’re being affectionate with each other. Hugs not (performance-enhancing) drugs!
#USWNTParade #LoveWins pic.twitter.com/4bX2lK0n7n
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) July 10, 2015
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We’ve added the live stream of the parade, so you can watch if you click the video player above.
OK, so what’s happening here is that there are multiple buses, and the players have been split up. Here’s the next one, with Megan Rapinoe holding the trophy! And Bill De Blasio is in tow. De Blasio, of course, who scored that famous hat-trick in the final. Remember?
Fox feel they’re going too fast. We’re missing it! OK, here comes another bus, with Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath. Heath is from Jersey, so the local TV reporters are very excited.
Greg Kelly and Rosanna Scotto are very excited about Hope Solo. And there’s Governor Andrew Cuomo on the bus! That is absurd! He didn’t win the World Cup! Bloody politicians: they love to worm their way in to other people’s successes, don’t they?
Now here’s the truck for the sanitation department. Those guys and girls have to clear up afterwards. Props to them!
We're off!
The motorcade’s a-coming! And the squad is decked out in black, with their winners’ medals around their necks. Abby Wambach is wearing trendy sunglasses. No waving and hollering yet from the US squad. Maybe they’re saving themselves.
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They’re almost ready! Ticker tape is genuinely swirling around. Actually, that’s not true, is it: maybe we should more accurately say “shredded paper”, since no one uses strips paper ripped from a stock ticker any more. This isn’t 1929, people.
Hope Solo couldn’t be more excited! What heroes this USA squad are – and what fabulous teeth they possess:
We couldn't be more excited to be here! #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/8rMW4Vu87U
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 10, 2015
The US women’s team have been honored in Los Angeles, too. It wasn’t an official ticker-tape parade like today’s, but Carli, Abby et al did receive a rousing reception from about 10,000 fans on Tuesday.
Keepie-uppies in an Alex Morgan shirt:
Heather Mitts is a three-time Olympic soccer gold medalist, and not a local traffic reporter, but you get the gist:
Traffic is insane! NYC parade about to begin. Making history #USWNT. Tune into @FOXSports1
— Heather Mitts (@heathermitts) July 10, 2015
OK, let’s do the admin: this parade is scheduled to officially start at 11am, and it should last about an hour. It goes like this: the team step aboard a float at Battery Park, at Manhattan’s southern tip, and then heads very slowly up Broadway to City Hall near the Brooklyn Bridge, where Bill de Blasio will address the team and the crowd.
Is De Blasio a soccer fan? Not really, but his son Dante has been teaching him the basics.
“He has me watching the different games all over the world with him,” the mayor told WFAN Radio. “I’ve gotten more hooked in the last couple of years,” and Dante is “narrating and telling me the nuances of each player, so I’m feeling it more and more.” What a fabulous politician’s answer.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino is out there, in among the fans. She’ll be sending dispatches, but also you should follow her on Twitter because she is great:
These family friends convinced their families to drive 7 hours from Ohio to see the #USWNTparade Good work! pic.twitter.com/QOJgyxxz0e
— Lauren Gambino (@LGamGam) July 10, 2015
Carli Lloyd was the hero of the hour on Sunday. Actually, she was the hero of the 16 minutes: three times she scored in that madcap opening period, as USA raced into a 4-0 lead. Japan were completely overwhelmed.
Today, she’s ready:
#CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/PZLGEiGZoO
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 10, 2015
Here’s the float!
The world champs will be here soon. Watch a live stream of the #USWNTparade at 11 ET: http://t.co/FkvXGhMHmV 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/LOCFmExH9O
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 10, 2015
I misspoke earlier, actually: the parade will be televised on Fox 5, not Fox Sports 1, so that’s a pretty good network coup, following on from last Sunday’s record breaking broadcast:
It’s a beautiful sunny day in New York, and Broadway is packed. Even at 8am there were tons of spectators, bedecked in their finest soccer apparel – and one noticeable feature was the number of teenage girls showing their support. What a thrill this is: it’s the first time ever a women’s sports team has been celebrated like this – the last female athlete to be honoured with a ticker tape-parade was Olympic figure skating champion Carol Heiss Jenkins in 1960.
The Guardian office in New York is a stone’s throw from Broadway in the financial district, and if I look out of the window it’s a sea of red, white and blue. The Red, White and Blue Sea. And you mark my words: there will be a parting.
USA on parade
Good morning and welcome to a slice of New York history. Today the US women’s national soccer team, World Cup champions after their thrilling 5-2 victory over Japan last Sunday, will be honored in the Big Apple by the only way New Yorkers know how: with a brash, bouncy, bells-and-whistles ticker-tape parade – the first one ever for a women’s sports team.
The parade begins at 11am, but already the barriers are up, the NYPD is in position, and supporters are lining the streets in their red, blue and white. Hundreds of thousands of fans are slated to attend, and it’ll take place right in the heart of the city, from the Battery to City Hall, along what’s referred to in such moments as “the Canyon of Heroes”. The Canyon of Heroes! Beats Main Street, doesn’t it?
My colleague Lauren Gambino is heading down to ground level, and the actual parade is being broadcast on Fox Sports 1 in the US. We’ll be covering it all: the cheering crowds, the waving heroes, the reception with mayor Bill de Blasio – and lots and lots of pictures. Join us!
