U.S. women’s national soccer team needs to fix its anger issue
(We are going to take a break from coronavirus coverage for 34 seconds.)
Other barriers need to be hurdled but among the issues confronting the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, and all of women’s sports in this country, is a distinct lack of disgust.
The participants, and the fans who follow the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, remain so caught up in you “You Go, Girl” that they have ignored one of the essential feelings necessary in sport.
The feeling of absolute dejection and revulsion. The overwhelming desire to throw a kitchen appliance through the TV.
Mixing that delicious cocktail of despair and rage is something that women’s sports has yet to achieve. Everything around the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, and virtually every woman’s sport, is too nice.
Most of the narratives surrounding the higher tier women’s sports in the U.S. still focus on the movement and participation of girls playing rather than outcome from competition.
And the necessary crucifixion of “failure.”
The players don’t want to hear it, but when they start “getting it” from fans and media it will be a true barrier broken.
“I disagree, now,” said former USWNT star Julie Foudy, who was calling the finals of the SheBelieves Cup in Frisco on Wednesday.
Foudy was a member of the team that won the 1999 World Cup, a tournament given credit for launching the movement of the sport in the U.S.
“Before, with us, it was definitely like that. If you had a bad game, or lost, it was, ‘Oh, OK.’ I used to have this discussion with [retired U.S. team member] Abby Wambach a lot. She would be frustrated if the coverage was negative. I would say, ‘No, it’s a good thing.’
“Evaluating how you play in the media, and on Twitter, or social media means they are paying attention in a different way rather than the movement. And not to diminish the movement, but that is important to us as athletes.”
Foudy said she has seen a difference in that towards the USWNT since the 2011 World Cup.
I have not.
What I see and read from the media, and fans, about women’s sports are narratives and story lines that sound rah-rah.
It does not “help” that the U.S. teams are the standard in most sports. The USWNT defeated Japan 3-1 to win the tournament on Wednesday night.
The goal allowed was the first the USWNT has yielded since November. How does one exactly criticize this?
The Internet has created platforms for people who look beyond just “A girl played sports” and the actual games, be it soccer, basketball, et all. In those “rooms” are fans and analysts who voice and “sound out” their feelings about the players, and coaches, in the traditional manner we are accustomed.
Coaches are awful. Players are disappointments. The loss is unacceptable. Cancel my tickets.
The players may not want to hear it, but they need all of this.
“There is a difference,” USWNT forward Christen Press said. “This specific team is in a unique position in that there is a lot of expectation and a lot of pressure. The reason the team is loved so much is because we’ve won so much. We carry that with us.
“That said, there is a different way we are presented in the media that is not always results-oriented.”
When Press starts hearing how bad she is, that’s when she will know things around the USWNT, and all of women’s sports, have changed. For the better.
Now ... back to the coronavirus ...
