U.S. women lose world cup - some Americans celebrate

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I'm not patriotic. I don't really understand routing for the home team just because they are in close proximity to you. I don't see why trying to win an event is "representing your country." Most Americans don't even care about soccer. Singing the national anthem seems like a silly custom to me. When I watch figure skating during the Olympics, I don't route for American skaters unless I happen to like them. I've routed for Japanese, Canadian, Chinese, or Russian skaters (when they aren't in trouble for doping or otherwise banned).

How well a team plays or doesn’t play doesn’t say much about their country. It’s just about individual players and coaching. They are representing their team and management, not a nation in any real sense of the word. I wouldn’t care which team won if I was watching and one of the teams was from the US. It might come down to which teams’ costumes I like more, unless I’m into a player’s sob story or can’t stand a specific player or coach. That sort of thing.

I’m torn between thinking singing the national anthem is silly to thinking it’s nationalist propagandizing. Maybe it’s silly, nationalist propagandizing.

But if you’re rooting against the USWNT accomplishing that feat, does it make you un-American?

That’s something that I, personally, wrestle with. At first glance, it seems that yes it does. You should root for your country to be successful in everything. That’s how almost every country’s citizens feel.

Except, the USWNT has such a complicated history with the United States that it muddles things a bit.

Let’s start with the last time the USWNT took the field at the FIFA World Cup. That came in 2019, and the team won the championship.

Prior to the tournament, several players — obviously including the far-left-wing, pink-haired Megan Rapinoe — started to kneel during the United States national anthem. While wearing jerseys emblazoned with “USA,” mind you.

In fact, the players planned to do it during the World Cup. But US Soccer mandated that they stand and show respect for the country they represent. And they weren’t happy about it. Players demanded an apology and told US Soccer to repeal the policy.

Yes, how dare US Soccer force players representing the USA to show respect to America on a national stage. Those xenophobes!

This of course is in sharp contrast to how other countries’ athletes react during their national anthems. Take the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, for example.

During the playing of several anthems, players from around the world were brought to tears upon hearing their nation’s national song.

Those players wanted nothing more than to win the World Cup for their homeland.

The US Women’s National Team does not compete for the United States. Not really.

They compete for themselves. The players want to gain fame and notoriety and make money. Of course, as Americans — living in a free, capitalist society — that’s certainly their right. But does it mean I have to root for them to do it?

USWNT constantly pushing radical left-wing talking points leading into 2023 World Cup
Then, there’s the issue of their desire to constantly push hardcore left-wing political agendas. Some of the players even support biological men competing on the US WOMEN’S National Team. Which, of course, would displace ALL of the actual women on the team.

That’s the team I have to root for simply because they wear USA on their chests? While the rest of the world watches, the USWNT constantly disrespects the country they represent and they make remarks that most of the rest of the world laughs at. Things like, “hey men can get pregnant, too.”

Even during their “equal pay fight” — for which they won a completely undeserved ESPY award — they diminished the US Men’s National Team.

As part of the legal proceedings, they had to explain why they deserved more money. And that meant proving that their team is more valuable than the men’s.

In that proceeding, the players claimed that they “win more” than the men. Objectively, that’s fact. But it lacks some very important context.

First of all, men from every country in the world are free to pursue a career in athletics. That’s not true for women. Some countries don’t allow women to show their heads and/or faces in public, let alone kick a soccer ball.

So, right there, the pool of teams able to compete on a global scale is already smaller.

As OutKick Founder Clay Travis puts it, the teams with the best odds to win the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup are basically ranked based on how free the women in that country are to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

Guess which country ranks #1 in that category? That’s right, the United States.

The same country that some of the USWNT can’t stand. That “oppresses” them as women. The country that provides them with the opportunity to play soccer for a living and make millions of dollars doing Nike commercials.

Add it all up, and the USWNT makes it complicated when it comes to rooting interest for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.

But ultimately, does rooting against them make someone un-American?

No, it doesn’t. In fact, I might argue it’s the most American thing that one can do. Why? Because you’re exercising your inherent right to freedom of speech. One of the most important ideals in this country.

The USWNT can trash-talk the country all they want. Are they punished? No, instead they’re frequently rewarded for it.

So, if I choose to root against them, that’s my right.

That’s the beauty of the United States.

The Americans were bounced in the Women's World Cup -- and if you can believe it ... there are many here in the States who are celebrating their defeat, all because of politics.

For anyone who wants a true sense of how divided the USA is right now, go ahead and hop on Twitter to see the reactions to Megan Rapinoe and co. being beaten by Sweden in PKs Sunday ... which ends their World Cup run, and sees Rapinoe retire on a down note.

A ton of people -- mostly conservatives, it seems -- are crapping on the USWNT and arguing that the team, at large, is reaping what they've sown here ... citing political stances some have taken, including how they handled the National Anthem at the start of the tournament

This is a snapshot of where America is right now ... where culture wars dominate pretty much every aspect of pop culture, which are getting uglier and more contentious by the day.

On an objective level ... there are also some saying Team USA just wasn't up for going the distance this year, evidenced by their level of play and lack of effective offense. They squeaked by the early round ... and many felt other teams were simply better than us.

There was also a question about attitude ... something former USWNT star Carli Lloyd tore into the other day after the Americans seemed happy to settle for a 0-0 tie with Portugal.

That was a fair criticism -- but actively rooting against your own country's team feels like a step too far ... and yet, it was happening en masse this weekend. Sad times.

Trump, the former president and top-of-the-polls candidate for the 2024 Republican White House nomination, wrote on his social media platform Sunday night that “the ‘shocking and totally unexpected’ loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden.”

It’s not the first time Trump has sparred with the nation’s top soccer stars. He was president in 2019 when the women’s national team won the previous Women’s World Cup and traded barbs at the time with star Megan Rapinoe, who had declared in advance that she would not attend any White House visit if her team won the tournament.

Rapinoe, playing in her final Women’s World Cup game, was among the American players to miss a penalty in Sunday’s game. Trump was quick to pile on to the U.S. star.

“Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!! ! MAGA,” he wrote.

How well a team plays or doesn’t play doesn’t say much about their country. It’s just about individual players and coaching. They are representing their team and management, not a nation in any real sense of the word.