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Equal pay or federal court.

Those are the existing options for settling the dispute over pay between the United States women’s national team and the U.S. Soccer Federation, as far as the 28 players on the current roster are concerned.

USWNT co-captain Megan Rapinoe told NBC on Thursday, one day after contract mediation reached an impasse, that the USSF has not negotiated in good faith, using the phrase “fair” pay instead of “equal” when comparing the women’s pay to the men’s national team contract.

“We’re always open to hearing that conversation if they’re ready to have it,” Rapinoe said on NBC. “That’s the only federation we can play for. We’re the only team that they have. … So we’re sort of tethered together in that way. But at any point if they want to have a serious conversation and are willing to not only talk about paying us equally and valuing us in that way, but actually doing it and showing us that they’ll do it, our ears are always open.

“I don’t think anybody wants to go to litigation. But with that said, we’re very confident in our case.”

The players’ spokesperson, Molly Levinson, said in a statement Wednesday, “We entered this week’s mediation with representatives of USSF full of hope. Today we must conclude these meetings sorely disappointed in the Federation’s determination to perpetuate fundamentally discriminatory workplace conditions and behavior.

“It is clear that USSF, including its Board of Directors and President Carlos Cordeiro, fully intend to continue to compensate women players less than men. They will not succeed. We want all of our fans, sponsors, peers around the world, and women everywhere to know we are undaunted and will eagerly look forward to a jury trial.”

The USSF issued its own statement: “We have said numerous times that our goal is to find a resolution, and during mediation we had hoped we would be able to address the issues in a respectful manner and reach an agreement. Unfortunately, instead of allowing mediation to proceed in a considerate manner, plaintiffs’ counsel took an aggressive and ultimately unproductive approach that follows months of presenting misleading information to the public in an effort to perpetuate confusion.

“We always know there is more we can do. We value our players and have continually shown that, by providing them with compensation and support that exceeds any other women’s team in the world. Despite inflammatory statements from their spokesperson, which are intended to paint our actions inaccurately and unfairly, we are undaunted in our efforts to continue discussions in good faith.”

Last month, the USSF publicly announced it paid more to the women’s players than to the men’s players from 2010-18. However, the USWNT dismissed the figures as being inaccurate, and the U.S. men’s national team players issued a statement also disputing the federation’s numbers.

In that time period, the USWNT won two major championship — the 2012 Olympics and the 2015 Women’s World Cup. The USMNT, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

USWNT teammate Christen Press joined Rapinoe Thursday on NBC’s “Today” and said all parties understand why the talks halted.

“I think that we’ve shown that we’re able to do a lot of work off the field and still have successful results,” Press said. “This has been going on … this fight actually has been going on forever. I think being part of being on the women’s national team means that you’re taking part in this torch carrying for women. And we take a lot of pride in that, and it gives us a great purpose.”

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)