(CNN)More than a year after US Soccer and the United States Women's National Team (USWNT) brokered a landmark equal pay agreement, USWNT star player and two-time World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe is still coming to terms with the implications of what her team has achieved.
Following years of lawsuits and lobbying from players, the Federation last year agreed to a new 50-50 split in the way it pays men and women competing for the US national soccer teams, meaning both sides will receive the same pay and prize money, including for participating at World Cups.
"There was a relentlessness, and a refusal to accept anything other than what we felt like we deserved," Rapinoe told WBD sports analyst Julie Foudy, adding she's proud of "the group effort that it took."
"It was almost like we couldn't lose, I said that a lot. If the Federation won, everybody loses and if we win, everybody wins," the two-time World Cup champion added.
Rapinoe said the team worked together and saw setbacks, not as losses, but as "just a step on the journey. Ultimately, I think that gave us a lot of confidence on the field as well -- we were all in it together, we were all doing our part."