USWNT 2019 World Cup Pride

It has only been ten days since the U.S. Women’s National Team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the debate over their pride regarding their skill is slowly beginning to die down. Throughout the tournament, the American women have broken numerous records including having the greatest victory margin in men’s and women’s World Cup history and scoring the most goals in a single Women’s World Cup game. Not only have the women established their moment in sports history, they have been unashamed of their accompanied celebrations. As they continuously broke World Cup records and celebrated accordingly, their pride and enthusiasm were consistently criticized. All of this criticism began as a result of the Americans’ first group stage game when they dominated Thailand in a 13-0 match and the women celebrated each goal with great enthusiasm. Numerous critics voiced their disapproval of the women’s celebrations.

Personally, I feel that any criticism regarding their celebrations is quite ridiculous. These women create one of the most talented soccer teams in the world and should not be criticized for their incredible accomplishments, especially when those accomplishments take place in the most prestigious athletic competition that only occurs once every four years. They should be permitted to take pride and enjoy their post-goal or post-game celebrations. A heavily debated situation during this tournament was how the women are being criticized when men would not be for the same celebrations and actions. Plenty of professional male soccer players have had exuberant celebrations and rarely suffer the level of criticism the women have. Male players have earned many cards for their over-the-top celebrations, but these have been disregarded by critics suggesting that these are simply “a part of the game”. This controversy only fueled the Americans’ pride as they sought, and continue to seek, social and monetary equality. As a former player, I do not understand how anyone can possible criticize these women for making soccer history as they won, and enjoyed, their fourth World Cup title for the United States.