The US Womens National Soccer Team is struggling on the world stage, not only on the pitch but also on the sideline. Perhaps the team thought they could simply show up and win, but they are discovering the rest of the world has come to play, and the results prove it.
While the US team has advanced out of the group stage, it has been by the skin of their collective teeth. They managed to eke out a scoreless tie against what should have been an overmatched Portugal club, and if not for an assist by the post, would be headed home in defeat. These are hardly the results that a squad that has campaigned for and gotten equal pay should be getting.
Not only has the action on the pitch been uninspiring and sluggish, but the team’s behavior before and after the game has also led some to label them an embarrassment to the country. Before the opening game with Vietnam, the Vietnamese players jubilantly participated in the singing of their country’s anthem. The American team seemed disinterested and downright disrespectful, with only one player singing and a small handful even placing their hand over their heart in a customary manner.
Much of the problem is the woke mind virus that has infected professional sports. It has become trendy and popular to virtue signal on the world stage and disrespect the country. From Britney Griner to Colin Kaepernick to left-wing activist Megan Rapinoe, disrespecting the very country that has made these athletes obscenely wealthy and famous is now considered edgy and hip.
The behavior hasn’t gone unnoticed, however. Carli Lloyd, who played for the team from 2005-21, and won two World Cups, had some scathing criticisms after the Portugal match: “I have never witnessed something like that. There’s a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family. But to be dancing, to be smiling. I mean, the player of the match was that post. You were lucky to not be going home right now.”
Lloyd is referring to the selfies and post-game antics of a team that should be gravely concerned with its immediate future rather than mugging on social media for likes. She continued: “I spoke up in that room, and I told them that you can’t take anything for granted — you have to work for everything that you get.I just talked about what the mentality of this team has been about and passed down from generation to generation. But the problem is when you win, and you get things, winning has taken on a different meaning.”
With a potential match with powerhouse Sweden looming, if the Women don’t make it out of the next round, it will go down as a black eye on a sport that has been desperately trying to present the Women’s game as equal to the Men’s. Now that the pay is the same, the results need to match the compensation, and thus far, they haven’t.
Lloyd also lobbed criticism at US coach Vlatko Antonovski, claiming she is “not seeing that passion” that the US team is accustomed to playing with. This prompted Antonovski to go on the defensive, like his team: “The one thing I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else. They’ve put everything they could in preparation for this tournament and every game that they go into, so to question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it’s insane.”
Insane or not, the coach and players need to show better in the next round. Thankfully this tournament will be the last for washed-up Megan Rapinoe, and while the temptation is to hope for her exit to be one of embarrassment like she has caused the country on the world stage, still, the sports fan and patriot in me wants America to come out on top. Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but at this stage, the prospects are dim.
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