The next few weeks ought to provide a palliative for futbol fans waiting for professional soccer and South County’s adopted “hometown” team, the Tijuana Xolos, to start playing again.
With the summer Liga MX season set to begin July 19 —and the European futbol seasons’ start set for August — a variety of international tournaments should be a generous bridge to fulfilling the need for the beautiful game.
Already underway is the Women’s World Cup being held in France.
The United States Women’s National Team played this week. Depending on your take, they did the United States proud. Sort of.
Performing admirably and coming away with a victory at any competitive tournament is laudable. Elite athletes are exceptional specimens and watching them perform at their highest level of ability is rewarding.
The United States walloped the team from Thailand 13-0. The ladies representing the red, white and blue scored 10 goals alone in the second half, even into the final minutes.
The United States is ranked number one in the world. Thailand comes in at number 34.
The women who play for the U.S. outside of the tournament play in professional leagues domestically and internationally. Only a smattering of Thai women can claim futbol as their primary occupation.
But the World Cup is soccer’s premier tournament and sometimes the number of goals a team scores comes into play when determining seeding or advancing to the next round. Given the United States dominance, however, goal difference should not be a factor. 13-0.
But what was uncomfortably noteworthy was the way Team USA reacted after scoring even when it was clear to everyone watching Thailand would never come back. They whooped and hollered and danced and behaved as if smashing a team of obvious inferiority was an accomplishment.
Had it been a CIF final between two school teams, for example Eastlake and Otay Ranch High School, and one of the teams scored 13 uncontested goals and danced and celebrated after running up the score, it’s hard to imagine parents and administrators would not be bothered. Where is the display of sportsmanship and class, observers might wonder.
When men behave the same way, the same questions are asked, so this is not a question of double standards for gender. Rather, it’s a question of character. So, in their first victory of the World Cup the ladies have provided a glimpse of who they are.
Fortunately for those who appreciate alternatives to Goliaths grandstanding when they pummel Davids, the men’s Copa America and Gold Cup start this weekend, with the African Cup of Nations starts the following week. It should be an interesting summer.
