A couple of weeks ago, I asked Paul Riley whether he’d heard that the North Carolina Courage’s opening match against Paris Saint-Germain during the upcoming International Champions Cup in Miami would not be televised or streamed online.

“Really?” replied the Courage manager, who then took a beat. “Maybe that’s a good thing. They’re really good.”

When the Courage faced Olympique Lyonnais Sunday evening in the finals of the I.C.C., having dispatched PSG three days earlier, the match was broadcast on ESPN2. A worldwide audience would watch the Courage ride an early Heather O’Reilly goal, then outlast a relentless Lyon assault to win the inaugural I.C.C. There was a trophy and medals for the victors, and a throng of boisterous Courage supporters greeted the team when it arrived back at RDU airport Monday afternoon.

Reactions from all corners of media and social media spanned a spectrum. On one extreme, the Courage were trumpeted as the undisputed champions of the women’s soccer world. On the other, they’d “won” a jerry-built junket, a glorified friendly that was treated as practice by all but one participant.

The truth, as is usually the case, lies somewhere in between. The women’s I.C.C. is an offshoot of the men’s variant that’s been bringing European powers to the United States for (sometimes) sold-out summer scrimmages since 2013 (the I.C.C. replaced the World Football Challenge). Just four teams were invited to the debut women’s I.C.C. this year: Lyon, PSG, Manchester City and the North Carolina Courage.

Few knew what to make of this nascent excursion. The I.C.C. was wedged into a break in the NWSL schedule, a FIFA window that coincides with the four-country Tournament of Nations competition featuring the U.S. Women’s National Team. That meant the Courage would likely miss a significant number of starters called up to the USWNT. When Amanda Duffy, the NWSL’s managing director of operations, was asked two months ago how the Courage’s opportunity to compete in the I.C.C. came about, her impassive reply boiled down to, ‘Hey, ask them.’

“[The Courage] worked directly with the I.C.C. in organizing and participating in the tournament,” Duffy demurred. “It’s great for the Courage to stay active during that international break, and because it’s an international break, we anticipate that they’ll have players playing in that tournament who aren’t otherwise getting playing time or any visibility in NWSL … [I]t’ll be a meaningful tournament for the teams that are participating.”

The NWSL’s social media machinery became more engaged as the Courage first advanced to the I.C.C. final, then upended Lyon.

Amid the accolades over the Courage’s crowning, a myriad of critiques coalesced around two principal gripes. The first was that the three European visitors were all in preseason form, having not played since their seasons ended in May, and that they didn’t field their best players, instead treating these matches as tune-ups for their upcoming domestic seasons. While that was true for PSG, which was missing several key contributors, Lyon fielded a nearly full-strength squad for the final against the Courage. Meanwhile, the Courage were without six notable regulars, all away for the Tournament of Nations: Crystal Dunn, McCall Zerboni, Sam Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper, Merritt Mathias and Debinha.

Just as noteworthy, however, were some of the Courage players assigned to face down a Lyon club that had won the last three UEFA Women's Champions League titles and 12 consecutive league championships.

Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo, who made six saves in the final, hadn’t played in a match since May 6.

O’Reilly didn’t play between the end of her season with Arsenal in May and joining the Courage in early July.

Meredith Speck has played fewer than 250 minutes this season.

Yuri Kawamura had only appeared in two NWSL games this year since returning from a season-ending ACL injury in 2017. When Kawamura went down with another apparent knee injury in the first half against Lyon, her replacement was Cari Roccaro, a Houston Dash castoff who also has only two NWSL games under her belt this season.

Center back Kaleigh Kurtz went undrafted out of college, then played overseas in 2017 before signing a free agent contract with the Courage this year, where she’s started only six games.

The last time right back Ryan Williams started a soccer game was for Texas Christian University last November.

The last time Morgan Reid, Williams’ second-half substitute, appeared in a match before the I.C.C. was her senior season at Duke University last fall.

The second reproof is that, hey, the I.C.C. is just a preseason tournament (at least for three participants), hardly on the level of the UEFA Champions League in which Lyon, PSG and Manchester City regularly complete. But there’s the rub. Those teams enjoy the annual opportunity to qualify for and compete in regional club competitions outside their respective leagues. The Courage do not, as there's no continental club tournament in North America. And unlike men’s pro soccer, there still isn’t a FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. For the Courage and the rest of the NWSL, it’s league and done. The women’s I.C.C says it hopes to expand next year, but in the WoSo world, it might be just as likely the tournament won’t be back.

This juxtaposition is uniquely and visibly felt by Courage midfielder Denise O’Sullivan, last seen beaming with joy after Darian Jenkins’ game-winning goal against PSG and scurrying around the field against Lyon for 90 minutes despite high temps and humidity.

The 24-year-old O’Sullivan began her professional career with Peamount United in her native Ireland and played in her first UEFA Champions League in 2011. PSG bounced O’Sullivan and Peamount United from the Champions League in 2011; PSG eliminated O’Sullivan and her next pro club, Glasgow City, from the Champions League in 2015. The I.C.C. results were measures of both redemption and validation for O’Sullivan, who made the bold decision to leave Europe and ply her trade in America two years ago.

In the end, a mélange of starters, bench players, and reservists coalesced to score two victories over two of the best teams in the women’s soccer world. There’s no FIFA-sanctioned designation to accompany their achievement. But, unless a NWSL player is fortunate enough to be under contract with their national team, the minimum NWSL salary is just $15,750 and the maximum is $44,000. Moreover, several players not under regular contracts, like Ryan Williams and Reid, have trained with the Courage most of the year without compensation, save for a couple of short-term deals while their national team teammates were away. These soccer players are essentially playing for the love of the game, the cheers of the fans, and, yes, the occasional chance to hoist silverware. The North Carolina Courage enjoyed all three over the last week, and we shouldn’t begrudge that.