The most hated team in the world lived up to expectations. Here's a tip, when you're up 7-0, don't go over the top celebrating goals 8-13 like it's a World Cup winning strike.
The most hated team in the world lived up to expectations. Here's a tip, when you're up 7-0, don't go over the top celebrating goals 8-13 like it's a World Cup winning strike.
Seriously - the 10 year olds I coach have more sense than that. They won their game Saturday 9-0 and every one of them knew they would be stapled to the bench if they were this disrespectful to their opponents.
I am not a celebrating type. I play flag football on saturdays in a rec league and some of these guys feel like they are winning the superbowl when they get a TD or INT. i get it. im actually cool with it. my philosophy is if you don't want them celebrating them shut that shit down on the field. i will say i have no problem with them scoring as much as they want when tie breakers include goals scored. show some class but if you can score 20 then score 20.
The most hated team in the world lived up to expectations. Here's a tip, when you're up 7-0, don't go over the top celebrating goals 8-13 like it's a World Cup winning strike.
This.
Saw the scoreline and thought "fucking hell, in bad taste that to not take your foot off the gas when you're 7 up"
Didn't even know about the celebrations, or the comment "we knew every goal could count" bullshit.
I am not a celebrating type. I play flag football on saturdays in a rec league and some of these guys feel like they are winning the superbowl when they get a TD or INT. i get it. im actually cool with it. my philosophy is if you don't want them celebrating them shut that shit down on the field. i will say i have no problem with them scoring as much as they want when tie breakers include goals scored. show some class but if you can score 20 then score 20.
The most hated team in the world lived up to expectations. Here's a tip, when you're up 7-0, don't go over the top celebrating goals 8-13 like it's a World Cup winning strike.
It would look a little weird if they didn't celebrate their last goal of the game. Celebrate 1-7, then take a breather until 13.
So what's the expectation, that the team would have stopped trying to score? Are you serious? Why would you want them to do any less than play their hearts out? If they're not supposed to get 13 goals, maybe Thailand could have done a better job keeping them out of the box. This isn't little league, where there's a slaughter rule to protect young egos; it's the literal biggest stage in the world for this sport. If Thailand can't handle getting humiliated they shouldn't be there.
I don't mind them not taking the foot off the gas. This is pro sports.
The celebrations on the other hand? Those were tasteless and they should be ashamed.
In this sport I always argue against myself between "there are too many not ready for this level countries and should be cut by half" and "they are never going to be world class if they aren't exposed to world class athletes"
i don't mind the 13 goals tbh. but the celebration after goals 8-13 was a little much. plus, don't total goals end up being a tie-breaker at some point? i may be wrong and could be thinking premier league.
It is a little like Arnold's one liner at the end of this scene:
I mean, you just viciously removed the wildly outmatched guy's arms and sent him plummeting to his doom. Did you really need to make fun of the fact that he's going to miss the most prestigious social gathering of the year?
It is a little like Arnold's one liner at the end of this scene:
I mean, you just viciously removed the wildly outmatched guy's arms and sent him plummeting to his doom. Did you really need to make fun of the fact that he's going to miss the most prestigious social gathering of the year?
In fairness to Arnold, that guy was an asshole. And no one is gonna hold his drink.
So what's the expectation, that the team would have stopped trying to score? Are you serious? Why would you want them to do any less than play their hearts out? If they're not supposed to get 13 goals, maybe Thailand could have done a better job keeping them out of the box. This isn't little league, where there's a slaughter rule to protect young egos; it's the literal biggest stage in the world for this sport. If Thailand can't handle getting humiliated they shouldn't be there.
I don't blame America for piling on the score because goal differential is a tie breaker (side note - that's a terrible system...when I watch international hockey I take no joy from watching Canada hammer Kazakhstan 10-0), but when you run up the score (because the bad system forces you to) don't run around celebrating when the score is 10-0 and you make it 11-0...at that point the game is beyond won and dancing around like a clown only serves to rub your opponent's face in it. It's a complete lack of class.
however, its not just the tie breaker but also the fact that this is real game experience. its important for the starters to practice every pass and shot but they did put subs in. Those subs who worked their asses off to be on this team deserved every right to go in and play 100%. they are playing for playing time and they are just as importantly playing so they can be ready if a starter goes down. If i made it on the MUSA team as a backup and actually got to play in a game i would not care what the score was. I would play my heart out and try to show my best abilities.
By all means score 30 goals if you have the superiority to, no player or team should have to limit their prowess to appease an opponent.
Choreographed celebrations at 10-0, however, are just cringeworthy. The USA-Thailand game was essentially the equivalent of me heading to Wimbledon to play Serena Williams.
How do you let up 13 goals. I mean once you're down 5-0 just park the bus and limit your goal differential. USWNT is obviously so much more talented but that many goals... Thailand needs a new coach.
I thought this was an interesting take on Twitter -
Twitter on women athletes:
"They're not good enough."
"They're TOO good and should stop showing off."
"They're not entertaining."
"They did TOO MANY fun celebrations."
"I like men's sports because they're more aggressive."
"These women are TOO aggressive and should ease up."
I’m usually the first person to get behind a take like this, but as someone who has spent their whole life as pretty much the only girl/woman at football matches with her dad and the ‘lads’, I can confidently state that the reaction would have been the same if it were a men’s team.
Boxers have the opportunity for their corner to throw in the towel when they are getting murdered, but footballers have to endure a full length match no matter what. From a completely personal point of view, I feel it’s irksome for a world best squad to be dancing on the touch line as the 10th, 11th, 12th goals go in, just as I imagine a boxer might feel irked at the prospect of having to continue to pummel an opponent when they are already knocked out. There’s a lack of humility there that I don’t feel is ‘sporting’.
Male athletes and mens teams are shit on all of the time for being provocative, aggressive, or celebrating too much. Hell, they are penalized during the games for aggressively celebrating or being unsportsmanlike. And football teams are constantly criticized by other fans for "running up the score" on a weaker opponent.
There is no sexism at play here that is letting men off the hook for celebrating or being "aggressive" while criticizing women for it. If the men's team had done this, dare I say it could have even been more controversial, or at least more globally reported due to the popularity worldwide of men's soccer teams
In men's hockey, if you celebrate like that while running up the score someone is going to take you out - and your own team won't exactly jump to your defense.
Watch Australia during a 8-0 win. They celebrate the first few, then once the win is secure they don't do anything that would embarrass their opponent. Compare the goal celebration on the 8th goal here with Rapinoe scoring the 8th (or 9th?) goal vs Thailand....she spreads her arms out, runs half way down the pitch and slides like she's just scored the World Cup winning goal. It's disgraceful.
Maybe it's not reported as much in America, but the USA women's national team is hated internationally because they have a history of really poor sportsmanship - stupid antics, badgering refs, poor losers, worse winners etc. So there's a lot of negative feelings towards this team out there, and when you're the #1 team in the world and lay a pounding on the 32rd ranked team in the world (and the disparity in women's ranking is huge) this backlash is predictable...I'm sure that they know it, and don't care.
Only one thing matters...that Christine Sinclair score 4 more career goals and takes super-cheater Abby Wambach's goal record away from her. It's perfectly fitting that the all-time best American player is also a walking definition of poor sportsmanship.
The Canadian women's team gets talked about a lot during coaching clinics at the grassroots level. The team's tactics and passing is wonderful, but they lack the individual creativity to break down strong opponents. The trend has actually led to radical changes in the Canadian youth soccer program. We now spend a lot more time on physical literacy, ball mastery, and individual skills when kids are young. The pass-first mentality taught when I was a minor soccer player is now viewed as outdated and counter-productive.
The ‘92 Dream Team beat Angola 116 to 48 in their first game as “The Dream Team.” At the end they were still doing shit like bouncing alley oops to themselves off the glass, hot dogging and laughing about all the globetrotter shit they were trying while decimating this team. They were heralded. Just throwing that take out there for some perspective. I think if the US Men’s Soccer Team wasn’t a heaping pile of dog shit and were instead this dominant, it wouldn’t surprise me if the narrative was a little different (reference point USA Men’s Basketball)
You know, when I was a kid if I got an 81% on a test my parents would ask me what happened to the other 19%. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. I might be a lot less hard on myself as an adult if they'd just taught me to do a backflip and rub it in that teacher's face.
The ‘92 Dream Team beat Angola 116 to 48 in their first game as “The Dream Team.” At the end they were still doing shit like bouncing alley oops to themselves off the glass, hot dogging and laughing about all the globetrotter shit they were trying while decimating this team. They were heralded. Just throwing that take out there for some perspective. I think if the US Men’s Soccer Team wasn’t a heaping pile of dog shit and were instead this dominant, it wouldn’t surprise me if the narrative was a little different (reference point USA Men’s Basketball)
I can't speak for all of the reaction, but I really don't think the gender of the athletes has anything to do with the reaction. Are there misogynists piling on? Yeah, probably - but that's not the root of the reaction at all. As I said, the USA women's team has a horrible reputation for unsportsmanlike behaviour. If there's any criticism for the size of the backlash, they might be able to claim that it's being over blown because they're already hated and people were just looking for a reason to attack them and/or others are jealous of their success (there's probably truth to both of those claims).
I think that there's just a culture in sports, the unwritten rules. As I mentioned above, if a hockey player acted the way Rapinoe did after scoring the 8th or 9th goals, they'd get taken out with a dirty hit, or just outright jumped. In baseball, if you're up 15-0 and hit a homerun, you don't stand at home plate and watch the ball sail out of the stadium - you put your head down and run the bases.
Here's Canada's World Jr hockey team demolishing Denmark 14-0. Watch how muted the celebrations get as the score gets run up. The last 3-4 goals aren't even celebrated at all. I absolutely guarantee if a the player who scored the 8th or 9th goal for Canada acted the way Rapinoe did, he'd never play for Canada again.
You know, when I was a kid if I got an 81% on a test my parents would ask me what happened to the other 19%. Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong. I might be a lot less hard on myself as an adult if they'd just taught me to do a backflip and rub it in that teacher's face.
Hell, round my country most of the students just fuck the teachers.
Comments
I understand that some people don't understand soccer culture, but those players certainly should.
Saw the scoreline and thought "fucking hell, in bad taste that to not take your foot off the gas when you're 7 up"
Didn't even know about the celebrations, or the comment "we knew every goal could count" bullshit.
Pathetic.
The celebrations on the other hand? Those were tasteless and they should be ashamed.
In this sport I always argue against myself between "there are too many not ready for this level countries and should be cut by half" and "they are never going to be world class if they aren't exposed to world class athletes"
What wasn't world class was their class today.
however, its not just the tie breaker but also the fact that this is real game experience. its important for the starters to practice every pass and shot but they did put subs in. Those subs who worked their asses off to be on this team deserved every right to go in and play 100%. they are playing for playing time and they are just as importantly playing so they can be ready if a starter goes down. If i made it on the MUSA team as a backup and actually got to play in a game i would not care what the score was. I would play my heart out and try to show my best abilities.
Choreographed celebrations at 10-0, however, are just cringeworthy. The USA-Thailand game was essentially the equivalent of me heading to Wimbledon to play Serena Williams.
Twitter on women athletes:
"They're not good enough."
"They're TOO good and should stop showing off."
"They're not entertaining."
"They did TOO MANY fun celebrations."
"I like men's sports because they're more aggressive."
"These women are TOO aggressive and should ease up."
Boxers have the opportunity for their corner to throw in the towel when they are getting murdered, but footballers have to endure a full length match no matter what. From a completely personal point of view, I feel it’s irksome for a world best squad to be dancing on the touch line as the 10th, 11th, 12th goals go in, just as I imagine a boxer might feel irked at the prospect of having to continue to pummel an opponent when they are already knocked out. There’s a lack of humility there that I don’t feel is ‘sporting’.
There is no sexism at play here that is letting men off the hook for celebrating or being "aggressive" while criticizing women for it. If the men's team had done this, dare I say it could have even been more controversial, or at least more globally reported due to the popularity worldwide of men's soccer teams
47 US
3 Canada
6 draws
Suck it Canada!
I think that there's just a culture in sports, the unwritten rules. As I mentioned above, if a hockey player acted the way Rapinoe did after scoring the 8th or 9th goals, they'd get taken out with a dirty hit, or just outright jumped. In baseball, if you're up 15-0 and hit a homerun, you don't stand at home plate and watch the ball sail out of the stadium - you put your head down and run the bases.
Here's Canada's World Jr hockey team demolishing Denmark 14-0. Watch how muted the celebrations get as the score gets run up. The last 3-4 goals aren't even celebrated at all. I absolutely guarantee if a the player who scored the 8th or 9th goal for Canada acted the way Rapinoe did, he'd never play for Canada again.