The Collision of Elements that Created a World Cup Villain

Originally Posted on the Florida Sports Report blog.

The United States Women soccer team were ready to make a strong statement in their World Cup debut in the midst of a discrimination lawsuit, alleging that they deserve the same pay as the men because of their success and superior revenue streams through said success.

The Thailand soccer team scratched and crawled their way to a World Cup berth in the midst of minimal support and financial backing of the country they represent—despite being ranked higher than the men.

FIFA sits on billions of dollars and has allowed for the United States Women team to open up their campaign against arguably the weakest team in the Women’s World Cup.

Uh-oh.

The USWNT destroyed the Thailand team to a point that the players and their fans were sobbing while witnessing the mayhem and the utter destruction. Alex Morgan (5 goals!?!?) and friends were setting out to score as much as possible and showcase their talents to the entire world, celebrating, taunting, and displaying their powerful skillset. This is the World Cup, and they were clearly ecstatic as to how strong a team they are, and of course knowing secretly how badly they’ve outscored the men in all their previous World Cup appearances COMBINED was probably making this an even more satisfying experience.

But.

Sometimes, you have to read the room. It would have made sense to celebrate like this against rivals like Canada, against a good opponent like France, but this was Thailand, a team that was already known to be struggling towards their World Cup berth. And to add to the room-reading, there’s already this global defiance of what the United States has become in recent years because of the administration.

And before you all start screaming about how the politics has nothing to do with the sport, I present you what happened to the men’s team. The United States emerged with a target on its back from 2015 as Latin American teams worked with extra energy to ensure the U.S. didn’t advance to the World Cup. Honduras and Panama and even Trinidad, who had already been eliminated, beat the U.S., which was unfathomable years ago. And I promise you it wasn’t for lack of talent, it was the unexpected spark from the opponents that took everyone by surprise. United States has become a global villain, like it or not.

The last thing you should do is provide a little extra energy in a global event, especially one away from your home turf. The defending champions already had a slight target on their back, but considering the ho-hum reactions from most teams and the disappointed one from the Canadian team, you can tell the target just got a bit bigger. Now, the U.S. Women’s team has to play while looking behind their backs at all times, and play with this same amount of energy because if they fail, then you know this 13-0 beatdown will be ridiculed and criticized for years to come. Celebrating after the seventh goal was probably excessive, even if this was the World Cup. By the time it was 7-0, you should read the room and realize you aren’t facing an opponent that’s prepared to even share the turf with you.

But like I said, there’s a lawsuit going on, and there’s a point to be made—and for the record they deserve at the very least equal pay. The women’s team proceeded to scored more goals than what the male counterparts scored in ALL their competitions in the last THREE World Cups. The team was aiming for the throat to prove an obvious point, and the victim just happens to be Thailand: a team that despite being far better than the mens counterpart, had already been outscored 12-1 in their previous three matches, had lost to the United States by a score of 9-0 in their prior meeting, and is playing in only their second World Cup ever.

You can celebrate, it is the World Cup, but read the room. Thailand never had a chance with you, and celebrating as if they were your equals may have been slightly much when it was a nasty 10-0. Now everyone else, especially a vindictive Canadian soccer team, is aiming for your throats, and with your lawsuit, the recent criticism, and not having the home field advantage of 2015, these elements are going to work against you, especially if pressure ever builds up and ESPECIALLY if Thailand sees you again or worse yet has the opportunity to conspire to knock you out later in the round via goal differential. And if you think that could never happen, once again, look at the qualifiers back in 2017 concerning the men’s teams and ponder how Mexico gave up three goals to Honduras in the final game.

Read the room, or the room might kick you out when you least expect it.