Let's talk about the USA Women's National Soccer Team, and how they killed, no annihilated, their first game in this year's Women's World Cup. What a game it was to watch. I have always known the game of soccer ever since I was a small little toddler. I played when I was younger and every once in a while I pass the ball around when I can. I grew up watching soccer all the time. It is the only sport I can watch the entire game and know what is going on, why a player got carded, and what was clearly a flop. So when I heard that the Women's World Cup was coming up, I quickly found out when team USA was playing so I could watch. Wow was I happy that I took the time to watch the game.
Unfortunately, I missed the first 16 minutes of the game as well as the first goal by team USA. I was at work and had to drive home once the game started. But once I got home, my butt had a date with the couch and I was watching the rest of the game. It was intense from start to finish. I have always preferred watching the Women's National Team because they just have a more natural competitive spirit and have a way better system of teamwork on the field than their male counterparts.
I truly believe that they show more passion for the sport rather than playing for the money. Compensation is a whole other topic of discussion. An article by Jennifer Bendery from HuffPost talks about the unequal pay between the men's and women's national teams. I can go fully into depth about how I feel about the inadequate pay for the women's team, but I'll leave that for another day.
The first half of the game USA dominated the field. There were very few times when Thailand had control of the ball and made it to the opposite side of the field. From the very beginning, it was clear who was going to win, but I never thought it was going to be by that much. By halftime, I took it upon myself to do some reach on the USA Women's National Soccer Team and figure out their highest scoring game, how many times they have been to the World Cup, etc. In short, the women's team makes the men's national team look like a toddler's team in comparison to their accomplishments. From 1991-2015, the USA Women's National Soccer Team has been to every World Cup and medaled. That is amazing! Their biggest win was against the Dominican Republic back in 2012. The final score of the game was 14-0. I'm pretty sure they were trying to beat that record with this game and came extremely close in doing so.
By the second half of the game, the Thailand team barely touched the ball. Within the first few minutes of the second half, four goals were made. They kept happening back-to-back-to-back. I started yelling the total of goals after every time they made another one. I was so pumped. Probably around goal six or seven I started feeling bad for the other team. The TV station made it a point to show the Thailand fans and how disappointed and sad they were that their team was badly losing. I felt bad for them, but at the same time, I was so proud of our team and the amazing first game of the competition that they were having.
The teamwork and communication skills done by our team were flawless. I remember back when I played soccer that was always the hardest thing for our team to do: communicate. We struggled to work together to get the win. There were always certain players on my team that wanted to score all the goals, but a lot of the time missed or got the ball stolen from them because they didn't have a player to help them out. Soccer is a team sport and these women know how to work as a team to win.
Let's not forget all of the records that this game broke:
1. The USA's 13-0 win was the largest ever margin of victory for any team in a World Cup match. The USA's previous largest margin was a 7-0 defeat of Chinese Taipei at the inaugural 1991 event.
2. There were just six minutes between the USA's fourth and seventh goals (50', 53', 54', 56'), the fastest four goals that have ever been scored in a single Women's World Cup match in the competition's history.
3. The multi-goal performances by Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle, and Samantha Mewis mark the first time a nation has had three different players score multiple goals in a WWC (Women's World Cup) match. For a more extensive list, check out this link to the USA Soccer page about the other records that were made during this game.
I will surely be watching these women dominate this World Cup and see how far they make it in this competition. Hopefully based on their opening game, they are on the path to winning 1st Place in the competition.
