{"id":1311322,"date":"2019-06-12T16:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T22:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/us-catches-heat-for-world-cup-goal-celebrations\/"},"modified":"2019-06-12T16:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T22:04:00","slug":"us-catches-heat-for-world-cup-goal-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/us-catches-heat-for-world-cup-goal-celebrations\/","title":{"rendered":"US catches heat for World Cup goal celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
United States’ scorer Lindsey Horan, right, celebrates their side’s 3rd goal with Megan Rapinoe during the Women’s World Cup Group F soccer match between United States and Thailand at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, France, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

REIMS, France \u2014 The goals were one thing, the celebrations another.<\/p>\n

The U.S. women\u2019s national team faced criticism following its record-breaking 13-0 rout of Thailand on Tuesday night. The win set a World Cup record for goals and margin of victory. Alex Morgan alone had five goals, matching the most in one game in tournament history.<\/p>\n

But there were questions about whether the Americans should have celebrated goals once the game was well in hand. Were the three-time World Cup champions being unsportsmanlike, or merely sending a message to the rest of the field?<\/p>\n

Alex Morgan was asked afterward about the display of hugs, high-fives, and posturing for the many American fans at Stade Auguste-Delaune.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the moment, every time we score a goal in a World Cup \u2014 you\u2019ve dreamt of it. I dreamt of it since I was a little girl,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, winning a World Cup and being back there for the third time, we want that fourth star. So tonight we knew that any goal could matter in this group-stage game. And when it comes to celebrations, I think this was a really good team performance and I think it was important for us to celebrate together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those celebrations drew ire on social media, some of it directed at veteran Megan Rapinoe for twirling and turf-sliding after her goal \u2014 which made it 9-0. A World Cup-record seven U.S. players scored in the game.<\/p>\n

Morgan was rebuked for holding up four fingers after her fourth goal, which made it 10-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of this is about building momentum and so as a coach I don\u2019t find it my job to rein my players in,\u201d coach Jill Ellis said. \u201cThis is what they\u2019ve dreamt about. This is for them. This is a world championship\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapinoe, interviewed on FOX Sports on Wednesday, also addressed the criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone wants to come at our team for not doing the right thing, not playing the right way, not being a good ambassador, they can come at us. It was an explosion of joy,\u201d she said. \u201cIf our crime is joy, then we will take that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rapinoe pointed to the team\u2019s young players who scored their first World Cup goals and said they had every right to celebrate, including Samantha Mewis, Rose Lavelle, Mallory Pugh and Lindsey Horan.<\/p>\n

In a postgame show of sportsmanship, the U.S. team also consoled some of the emotional Thai players. Morgan offered encouragement to forward Miranda Nild, who like Morgan played college soccer at Cal.<\/p>\n

Thailand\u2019s players were disappointed, but they have also been on the other end of blowouts. Thailand won a friendly over Indonesia 13-0 last year, and beat Cambodia 11-0 in the group stage of the AFF Women\u2019s Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn football games, everybody is following the rules, and everyone is trying their best,\u201d Thailand coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian said. \u201cWe have to accept that, this team is very good. We don\u2019t have any excuse, except they are better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrating and piling on the goals are really two different issues.<\/p>\n

At the World Cup, goal differential becomes important in deciding tie-breakers for the knockout stage. The U.S. team is in a group with nemesis Sweden, as well as Thailand and Chile.<\/p>\n

It was understood that the top-ranked Americans would likely trounce Thailand, ranked 34th in the world, and possibly No. 39 Chile, which is making its World Cup debut. The game with Chile is set for Sunday in Paris.<\/p>\n

The United States faces Sweden in the final game of the group stage next week. It is their first meeting since the Swedes ousted the Americans from the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals \u2014 the team\u2019s earliest exit ever. Sweden bunkered on defense and afterward then-U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo called the team cowards.<\/p>\n

Currently ranked No. 9, Sweden defeated Chile 2-0 in Rennes on Tuesday night and will play Thailand in Nice on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The United States did have its defenders, including a familiar one.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor all that have issue with many goals: for some players this is their first World Cup goal, and they should be excited,\u201d former U.S. teammate Abby Wambach tweeted . \u201cImagine it being you out there. This is your dream of playing and then scoring in a World Cup. Celebrate. Would you tell a men\u2019s team to not score or celebrate?\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States’ scorer Lindsey Horan, right, celebrates their side’s 3rd goal with Megan Rapinoe during the Women’s World Cup Group F soccer match between United States and Thailand at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims, France, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)AP | AP REIMS, France \u2014 The goals were one thing, the celebrations another. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 23:59:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}