I really don't think most people have seen the brackets. The US is in Group F with Chile, Sweden, and Thailand. The top TWO teams advance. If a team wins all three matches there are NO goal differential used. They would have 9 points (3 points for a win and 1 for a tie). If the US beats Sweden they will end up in first place. If the US loses to Sweden they will end up in second place and advance. The ONLY scenario where goal differential matters is if they tie Sweden. Then they would use goal differential. And because there are 24 teams to start and they have to go down to 16 teams then 4 third place teams will advance as well. This is different than World Cup where 32 teams start and only the top two teams advance.

However, if you look at the knock out stage, the US got a really easy draw! 24 teams start out
First place of Group F (US, Sweden, Thailand, Chile) plays 2nd place team of Group B (Germany, Spain, South Africa, China)

The SECOND place team in Group F will play the SECOND place team of E (New Zealand, Cameron, Canada, Netherlands). This is different than in the men's word cup because twop third place teams will advance.

So there was NO reason to score over 10 goals. And the celebrating that went along with it is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:leg farts are what rapinoe did after scoring to go up 9-0. watch a clip

Then why's everyone complaining about "celebrating" and not "how Rapinoe chose to celebrate" ?

One makes it seem like the entire team was engaging in classless, unsportsmanlike behavior, and the other makes it seem like one player was over the top.

Interesting. Don't you think?

Because an example of a crass celebration was asked for.

All were excessive, hers was just excessive AND crass

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

So if your daughter's team was up by 9, and a kid scored her very first goal, NO CELEBRATING!

Right?

That kid should have had better timing and scored her very first goal during the "Celebrations Allowed" period.

Well if you think that professional athletes and defending world champions should celebrate the way a 7 year old girl would then you don't understand the difference.

Any way that they choose to celebrate is how professional athletes and world champions celebrate, because they are professional athletes and world champions.

When a 7 year old girl does leg farts after scoring the 9th goal you will see how dumb it is for her too.

Anonymous wrote:leg farts are what rapinoe did after scoring to go up 9-0. watch a clip

Then why's everyone complaining about "celebrating" and not "how Rapinoe chose to celebrate" ?

One makes it seem like the entire team was engaging in classless, unsportsmanlike behavior, and the other makes it seem like one player was over the top.

Interesting. Don't you think?

Anonymous wrote:

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So we've gone from
They shouldn't have kept scoring goals!
Oh, ok, now I understand the rules. Well they shouldn't have celebrated!
Oh, ok, now maybe I have a vague understanding of how huge an accomplishment scoring a goal in the World Cup is. Well they shouldn't have celebrated like THAT!

Please.

Yes they shouldn't have celebrated like that. Classless

Then have FIFA write in the rules what celebrations can be done.

Football did away with spiking the football and dancing in the end zone. Soccer could limit expressions of celebrations.

Do you think all of the celebrations were inappropriate? Does this hold for all the goal celebrations across all the teams, or just the US team?

No rules need to be made. They acted immaturely and crass. That came from within and showed who they are on the inside without being controlled by a rule. They chose how they acted.

What exactly did they do that was immature and crass?

Details, please. "Celebrating" is something all soccer players do when they score. So clearly they did something beyond the pale. Explain, if it's so obvious that all of them should have known it was inappropriate. Heck, the whole team did it, apparently. It should be easy to explain!

leg farts??

So "they" shouldn't have done leg farts?

I've got GREAT news for you!

THEY didn't do leg farts.

I'm so glad I could clear that up for you. Have a great day!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

So if your daughter's team was up by 9, and a kid scored her very first goal, NO CELEBRATING!

Right?

That kid should have had better timing and scored her very first goal during the "Celebrations Allowed" period.

Well if you think that professional athletes and defending world champions should celebrate the way a 7 year old girl would then you don't understand the difference.

I think scoring your very first World Cup goal may very much be like scoring your very first goal as a 7 year old, and worthy of celebrating and not just rushing back to line up and begin play again.

I'd say not very English of me, but even the buttoned-up English celebrate goals. So.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

So if your daughter's team was up by 9, and a kid scored her very first goal, NO CELEBRATING!

Right?

That kid should have had better timing and scored her very first goal during the "Celebrations Allowed" period.

Well if you think that professional athletes and defending world champions should celebrate the way a 7 year old girl would then you don't understand the difference.

Any way that they choose to celebrate is how professional athletes and world champions celebrate, because they are professional athletes and world champions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

This is the problem with America. Raising kids that everyone is a winner and losing is bad. Or if you lose, it can't be by too much, that is just rude. No, it isn't. You don't want to lose, work harder. You want to beat the team/person/opponent, work harder. You don't want them scoring so much, play some damn Def and work harder.

Sports and attitude towards sports is a reflection of how hard you work in life. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it is how many times you get back up.

People lose, there is always someone better in something. The kid won't get every job, get every love interest, college desired...kids need to learn to lose. Then PICK YOURSELF UP and WORK HARDER!!!!!

Because she's earned it, just like every other lady on the squad. Years of hard work, injury recovery, pain, sweat, tears, etc. Every one of them has every right to celebrate their achievements. It isn't their fault Thailand wasn't good. They didn't choose the opponent. They shouldn't have to lay up after all the work they've put in. Unfortunately for Thailand, they got a tough draw.

You want class...see right after the match. Every US player knew it sucked to be Thailand, and every one was genuinely talking to the Thai players and consoling them. CLASS!!

The USWNT represented themselves with excellence and class last night!

They played great, they did not demonstrate class.

Anonymous wrote:These women are just very easy to not root for

Whine about their pay without justification, embarrass people with their classless celebrations...

Hoping they lose badly this year

LOL what planet do you live on? They are wildly successful and bring in loads more than the men, yet are paid a fraction of what they get. They were also slapped in the face by having to play on turf. It's not whining to demand what you deserve. Hater.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The social justice warriors, also known as the no fun club, alway want to debate. They find a victim in every situation and attempt to exploit it until we all surrender.

Half of them are currently sitting inside their Prius crying.

If the US needs that goal differential to get out of group stage then I guess they should celebrate them with such unbridled enthusiasm.

That's the thing. In the first game, you have no idea. They have to get past Sweden, to whom they lost in the Olympics. And Sweden plays Thailand after the US plays them, so they have no idea how many goals up Sweden would have gone.

It's unlikely they will need that many goals. But if Sweden goes 20-0 against Thailand, you're then saying the US team sucks for dialing it back too far. Expecting teams to see the future is ridiculous.

If they need 13 GOALS they are not good. That is the only point and the only takeaway.

Or, if they need 13 goals, then Thailand was completely outmatched and good for them for giving it a try.

We won't know until Sweden plays Thailand. Then you might find out that 13 goals was a good number. Or not enough. Or overkill. But since none of us can see into the future, the best our soccer players can do is play as hard as they can, as well as they can.

Nobody has criticized the outcome or how they played. They have been criticized for how they ACTED

Wrong. Go back and read the thread. Several posts, and presumably posters, have criticized "running up" the score.

Not really. That was a tactical decision made by coaching not the players. But at least that is a debatable soccer/tactical discussion. The celebrations are separate from the play and I think the biggest complaint is based pretty much on excessive celebrating well past the game being competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The social justice warriors, also known as the no fun club, alway want to debate. They find a victim in every situation and attempt to exploit it until we all surrender.

Half of them are currently sitting inside their Prius crying.

If the US needs that goal differential to get out of group stage then I guess they should celebrate them with such unbridled enthusiasm.

That's the thing. In the first game, you have no idea. They have to get past Sweden, to whom they lost in the Olympics. And Sweden plays Thailand after the US plays them, so they have no idea how many goals up Sweden would have gone.

It's unlikely they will need that many goals. But if Sweden goes 20-0 against Thailand, you're then saying the US team sucks for dialing it back too far. Expecting teams to see the future is ridiculous.

DP. What’s ridiculous is you making an argument for an anonymous poster when you have no idea how they would respond in that situation.

The people on the sportsmanship side of this discussion would have been fine with a 20-0 score, done in a dignified way. No flying out of the box with leg farts all the way.

I am a big supporter of our national teams, but it’s within our right to call out this kind of behavior when we see it. I understand that you feel that celebrating wildly is OK. I do not.

So you didn't like one part of one goal celebration, but that's enough for you to tar the entire team.

I don't think it's ok to degrade the entire team saying they have poor sportsmanship when you disapproved of a couple seconds of one celebration of one goal.

Celebrating when a game is competitive is more than fine. The game was not competitive well past 5 goals.

What exactly was Rapinoe celebrating with the 9th goal against the last seed in a group stage game as a defending champion?

I have no idea what she was celebrating. Rapinoe's an odd duck. It's quite possible she was celebrating finally getting it somewhat together after a bit of a rocky start. Or maybe she had so much pent up energy from trying so hard it had to go somewhere. I think soccer players are somewhat strange, personally. What with the men and how a strong breeze seems to cause them great injury, and the women acting like perpetual underdogs when they're truly incredible players.

Soccer goal celebrations are strange. I've seen a bunch of compilations of them just in the past day, and Rapinoe's is among the strange ones, but it doesn't stand out as being completely out of bounds, for men or women.

If FIFA thinks it's gone too far, they have the power to change it. Just like football got rid of spiking the football. When it's built into the culture (like spiking the football, or those airplane arms after goals -- what IS that?) good luck expecting some people to just decide that's no longer ok. And I don't think it's reasonable to criticize one group of people within a culture for the entire culture. The US team did not create the culture of celebrations and is not the only team with celebrations, muted or over the top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

This is the problem with America. Raising kids that everyone is a winner and losing is bad. Or if you lose, it can't be by too much, that is just rude. No, it isn't. You don't want to lose, work harder. You want to beat the team/person/opponent, work harder. You don't want them scoring so much, play some damn Def and work harder.

Sports and attitude towards sports is a reflection of how hard you work in life. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it is how many times you get back up.

People lose, there is always someone better in something. The kid won't get every job, get every love interest, college desired...kids need to learn to lose. Then PICK YOURSELF UP and WORK HARDER!!!!!

Because she's earned it, just like every other lady on the squad. Years of hard work, injury recovery, pain, sweat, tears, etc. Every one of them has every right to celebrate their achievements. It isn't their fault Thailand wasn't good. They didn't choose the opponent. They shouldn't have to lay up after all the work they've put in. Unfortunately for Thailand, they got a tough draw.

You want class...see right after the match. Every US player knew it sucked to be Thailand, and every one was genuinely talking to the Thai players and consoling them. CLASS!!

The USWNT represented themselves with excellence and class last night!

YES

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The social justice warriors, also known as the no fun club, alway want to debate. They find a victim in every situation and attempt to exploit it until we all surrender.

Half of them are currently sitting inside their Prius crying.

If the US needs that goal differential to get out of group stage then I guess they should celebrate them with such unbridled enthusiasm.

That's the thing. In the first game, you have no idea. They have to get past Sweden, to whom they lost in the Olympics. And Sweden plays Thailand after the US plays them, so they have no idea how many goals up Sweden would have gone.

It's unlikely they will need that many goals. But if Sweden goes 20-0 against Thailand, you're then saying the US team sucks for dialing it back too far. Expecting teams to see the future is ridiculous.

If they need 13 GOALS they are not good. That is the only point and the only takeaway.

Or, if they need 13 goals, then Thailand was completely outmatched and good for them for giving it a try.

We won't know until Sweden plays Thailand. Then you might find out that 13 goals was a good number. Or not enough. Or overkill. But since none of us can see into the future, the best our soccer players can do is play as hard as they can, as well as they can.

Nobody has criticized the outcome or how they played. They have been criticized for how they ACTED

Wrong. Go back and read the thread. Several posts, and presumably posters, have criticized "running up" the score.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two issues here.

1. Scoring goals (yes, it's ok! we need them for the goal differential). For those who don't understand why, use google.

2. Being total assholes about scoring goals after we were up 9-0 or so. (for those that don't understand sportsmanship, please see my daughters 2nd grade soccer team, they will explain it to you).

This is the problem with America. Raising kids that everyone is a winner and losing is bad. Or if you lose, it can't be by too much, that is just rude. No, it isn't. You don't want to lose, work harder. You want to beat the team/person/opponent, work harder. You don't want them scoring so much, play some damn Def and work harder.

Sports and attitude towards sports is a reflection of how hard you work in life. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it is how many times you get back up.

People lose, there is always someone better in something. The kid won't get every job, get every love interest, college desired...kids need to learn to lose. Then PICK YOURSELF UP and WORK HARDER!!!!!

Because she's earned it, just like every other lady on the squad. Years of hard work, injury recovery, pain, sweat, tears, etc. Every one of them has every right to celebrate their achievements. It isn't their fault Thailand wasn't good. They didn't choose the opponent. They shouldn't have to lay up after all the work they've put in. Unfortunately for Thailand, they got a tough draw.

You want class...see right after the match. Every US player knew it sucked to be Thailand, and every one was genuinely talking to the Thai players and consoling them. CLASS!!

The USWNT represented themselves with excellence and class last night!

leg farts are what rapinoe did after scoring to go up 9-0. watch a clip