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[Butter]

By the way, that stadium will be used again in the Euro 20 competition next summer....

when is the euro60 competition?

40 years, duh

[euro60]

By the way, that stadium will be used again in the Euro 20 competition next summer....

when is the euro60 competition?

I'll be gladly hosting a euro60 IPA tasting competition if that is what you are after 

[Zafer Kaya]

Anything more than 8 goals in a soccer game is dickish.

[daytime drinking]

it's a learning experience for all.  speaking of which, what the hell is the message being sent to latin american athletes stateside?  don't come home?  i wonder what big papi did to almost being assassinated.  is that the proper context? 

[Zafer Kaya]

The teams do discourage players from leaving the US.  I mean, they don't fine them or anything but they'd rather they stay and I'm sure they tell them that.  Partly because of safety concerns, but also just for training and they can run into VISA issues.

The Ortiz thing is strange though, because it sounds like he was deliberately targeted, and not for robbery. I guess assasination is an apt description.

[euro60]

So the US soccer women destroy Thailand 13-0, yes you read that right, 13-0, at the World Cup today. I watched the last 20 min or so, and goals were going in left and right, about every 4-5 min. or so. It was a travesty.

I think this is not a good thing for the US women's team. Opponents now more than ever will target the US. "Not over our dead body will this happen to us."

[Zafer Kaya]

The weak ass excuses were worse than the play.

At some point, the other team is just horribly outmatched and it is an awkward situation.  You don’t want to be patronizing.  So like yeah, 8-0 even 10-0 is excusable.  But 13-0 and you score the last goal at 90+2? 

“Oh, they need to play against the best and learn a lesson to get better.”  Yeah, because they would have learned nothing from a 12-0 beating.  Each goal just makes them smarter. 

“You can’t take your foot off the gas.”  Ummm... yes, you can.  It’s easy.  If your team ego is so fragile that playing at 90% for 15 minutes screws you up for a tournament then maybe you are the team that needs to learn a lesson.  Every team in every sport can take their foot off the gas.  Like in racing if you are up 5 laps with 4 laps to go, they will literally take their foot off the gas.

“They worked so hard to get here, they deserve it.”  No.  The whole point of sportsmanship is to consider the other side and not just yourself.  Did the Thai players not work hard?  They don’t even get paid.

 “What about goal differential?”  Well, it’s unlikely Sweden is going to win by a dozen goals.  But even if they did, then they were assholes.  You play Sweden and you beat them.  If you lose, then blame yourself for not beating them.  Not for failing to score a dozen goals against Thailand.  And again, that’s the whole point of sportsmanship.  If you lose because Sweden were dicks, then you lose.  There are thing more important than winning.

You can play pretty hard, without being patronizing, in ways that still help your team.  Like letting them have the ball a bit so you can work on your leaky-ass defense.  Work on maintaining possession.  Or you know, keep scoring but keep the celebrations to a minimum.  There were dozens of ways they could have been less Dickinson, and they chose not to do any of them.

They 100% ran up the score, and if that does not bother you... okay.  There are some people who are legitimately not bothered by thing like this and would be fine if they were on the receiving end.  I get it.  No one killed anyone here.  I don’t think anyone should be fined or anything.  It’s just a game.  But don’t come up with ridiculous justifications. 

Or okay, put it like this.  I think that the Thai women’s team learned a valuable lesson here and will only be stronger for this.  So, wanting only the best for USWNT, I hope that someone will teach us a similarly valuable lesson. 

But yeah, also not good for the team.  I think that the SOP here is you pull back a little knowing the game is won.  And the other team, also knowing the game is decided also pulls back a little.  No one gets hurt, you save some energy for the next game.  But if you’re going to play like it’s 0-0 in the 90th minute, then expect the other team to tackle like it’s 0-0 in the 90th minute.

[Butter]

I think the histrionics after every goal were dickish.  Not sure that scoring 13 is bad.  This is the top level of international football, play defense or be destroyed. 

But jumping around like you just scored the game winner in the final is not necessary after it's like 7-0.

[foolsgold]

I look at it this way: I had no problems with the US running up the score.  I also have no issue with their celebrations which, while jubilant, I never thought they crossed the line where they were taunting or mocking the Thais.  Here's the thing, if the roles had been reversed, I'd be complaining wildly about how classless and awful the Thai team was for doing the exact same thing. 

Sports. 

[Dan]

I look at it this way: I had no problems with the US running up the score.  I also have no issue with their celebrations which, while jubilant, I never thought they crossed the line where they were taunting or mocking the Thais.  Here's the thing, if the roles had been reversed, I'd be complaining wildly about how classless and awful the Thai team was for doing the exact same thing. 

Sports. 

Mostly I agree with fg.

Another thing: Thailand defeated Cambodia 11-0 less than a year ago. It's not like they were helpless - they were a good side in that game and thrashed another opponent.

I have no problem with the score. It's absurd, sure. In my rec leagues they have mercy rules, but that's rec. If you move up the ladder to the professional levels, there shouldn't be any mercy rules, and in the NFL if someone wins 53-3...we don't have this conversation. So why are we having it now?   

[Zafer Kaya]

Because the Thai players are not at the professional level.  They are literally amateurs.  Man City beating Man U 13-0 is not the same thing as Man City beating a Conference North side 13-0.  And we DO have this conversation when someone in the NFL wins 53-3.  That's why a lot of people think Belichick is an asshole.

But really it would have been absolutely fantastic if the US had truly treated the Thai team like pros.  That's really all they wanted.  They knew from the start they were going to get slaughtered.  Moreover, they WERE pros, in all the ways it mattered.  They took their insane beating like champs.  They didn't dirty tackle, they didn't try and stall the game with fake injuries.  The only thing not professional about them was their skill level, which is to a large extent a result of factors over which they had no control.

I think that Carli Lloyd made sure to go over to the Thai GK and give her a big hug and some words of encouragement.  But she looked like the only one.  It felt like the rest of the team just gave them perfunctory handshakes if that.  Give them the respect they deserve for competing like pros even though they are amateurs.

Also if we're going to play the "this is world cup competition, if you don't want to feel bad be better" card, then don't be whiny bitches when Brazil dances in front of your hotel after beating you.  And stop complaining you get paid less than the men when you make more money playing soccer in one season than some of the other players will see in a lifetime.

I feel like for fans, rooting for US teams is like rooting for the Yankees.  Yes, they are a good team.  No, you don't have to apologize.  If I were from NY, I'd root for the Yankees too.  But you got dealt a good hand.  Let's not pretend that the difference is that Yankees are classier or worked harder and the $200m+ payroll had nothing to do with it.  There's probably some kind of wife beater or similarly horrible person on the Yankees.  But there's at least on awful guy who should be in jail on the Cubs.  I still root for the Cubs.  Because like FG said, it's sports. 

But if you do not feel US sports patriotism, then US athletes are generally pretty unsympathetic people.  Like the Yankees are.  I don't hate them as people, but I'm going to root for the underdog, or the person with the more interesting story.  I have zero US sports patriotism.  I'm neutral.  But by virtue of being neutral, I pretty much root against the US anyway.  USWNT was maybe a bit of the exception, but now that exception has been revoked.


 

[Zafer Kaya]

Solid game from USWNT today, though they still haven’t been tested yet.  Endler’s performance was not as legendary as some people want it to be, but it was still quite good and she’s staked her claim as best woman GK in the world.

For God’s sake people, stop making the ridiculous argument that the women should be paid as much or more than the men because they are performing better.  If there’s a reason to support women’s sports, it’s because some thing are more important than what happens on the pitch.  The USMNT could destroy the women by 15 goals if they wanted.  And what will you say in four years when the USWNT when the world finished catching up and the USWNT might only be the fourth or fifth best team in the world?  Can we stop paying them so much? The US women cannot even support a domestic league.  So if you really care about women’s soccer go and watch some NWSL instead of just showing up once every four years and rooting for the front runners.

Also Allie Long played like a weird crazy psycho and should have been red carded several times.  If we can’t talk about goal celebrations can we at least address the maniac out there trying to ruin people’s careers in a 3-0 game?  It’s not like the USWNT doesn’t have other options. 

[euro60]

For God’s sake people, stop making the ridiculous argument that the women should be paid as much or more than the men because they are performing better. 

Agreed 100 percent. This current sentiment is of course PC run amok. I care about women's soccer only when it's the World Cup or the Olympic Games. That 3 weeks, 2 years out of 4 years.

[Zafer Kaya]

First half of the US-Spain match was a highly entertaining match between two sides playing well.

Second half of the US-Spain match was a shitshow of horrible tactics (both sides), cheap fouls and dives (again, both sides), and awful officiating.

Half of Spain's team should have been sitting on yellow cards, making it hard for them to defend and opening up gaps for the US to eventually score.  Instead, no one on Spain's team was on a card and then the US got the softest of penalties the one time no one on Spain did anything dirty.

[euro60]

I only saw the phase involving the 2nd US penalty. It's hard to tell one way or another. The fact that it went to VAR and was confirmed tells me something happened.

Team USA will have to have their A game on Friday when they play the hosts France. I hope to watch the game live (depending on what's going on at work).