That ripple U.S. Soccer feels has nothing to do with the buckling turf its Women’s World Cup champions refused to play on.

The U.S. women forced the cancellation of Sunday’s game against Trinidad & Tobago after discovering the field they were supposed to play on at Aloha Stadium was “not suitable to hold an international soccer match.” Sharp rocks were ingrained across the field, the team wrote on The Players’ Tribune on Sunday night, and the artificial playing surface was pulling up out of the ground.

“This decision wasn’t about `turf vs. grass.’ This was about field conditions and player safety,” the players wrote. “It’s as simple as that. Soccer is our job. Our bodies are our jobs. And nothing should ever be put in competition with our protection and safety as players.”

Just as they never should have been put in a position where they were forced to refuse to play.

It’s no secret that FIFA is stuck in the 1950s when it comes to women’s soccer. The Women’s World Cup was played on artificial turf this summer, something that would be unfathomable for the men’s tournament. As champions, the Americans got $2 million, a whopping $33 million less than Germany did for winning the men’s tournament in 2014.

It wasn’t until 2013 that FIFA’s powerful Executive Committee had its first female member. Two years later, there are only three.

Here in America, however, this summer’s World Cup has changed the game and U.S. Soccer would be wise to realize it.

The women’s run in Canada drew blockbuster ratings on Fox, with the final against Japan the most-watched soccer game – men’s or women’s – in U.S. history. When New York City threw the World Cup champs a ticker-tape parade – the first for a women’s team – crowds 10 deep turned out.

The most recognizable – and marketable – American player is not Michael Bradley or Tim Howard or Clint Dempsey. It’s Alex Morgan. No coincidence that Morgan was the most vocal of the U.S. women to speak out about the sub-par playing surface.

“No one’s really going to protect us but ourselves,” Morgan told FoxSoccer.com.

“The team needs to be a little more vocal … about whether this is good for our bodies and whether we should be playing on it if the men wouldn’t be playing on it,” she added.

For decades, the American women largely stayed quiet about inequality issues with U.S. Soccer, grateful for resources and support that players in other countries could only dream of. But their success this summer and the rock star-like response it brought showed the U.S. women they have more power than they realized.

They are the most successful team U.S. Soccer has. It is their names and faces the general American public know. And at next summer’s Rio Olympics, it is the U.S. women who will be favored to bring home another title.

The Americans know there is still a long ways to go in developing the women’s game internationally. Here in the United States, however, they are every bit as important to their federation as the men’s team.

U.S. Soccer should no longer be surprised that they expect to be treated accordingly.