This was awesome.

Ian Darke just gave A&M a shoutout.

Ian Darke just mentioned Lopez playing for us during the game. He sounded far from confident when saying "Texas A&M Aggies".

Wow. Mexican GK gifted Heath that goal.

Love seeing a packed stadium of USA fans. Wish we could do that for the USMNT instead of basically being an away team at half of our home games

Objectives of winning and not getting anyone hurt were achieved. I got the impression that if we had high pressed, the game would have been 7-0.

Yeah it's tough to score that many goals against the bunker. Once Mexico spread out and US tactically went wide in the 2nd half, those late goals came.

It's been a less dominant set of performances in the sendoff but hopefully it sets them up to peak at the right time a la 2015.

Edit to also add that Jimena had a pretty nice match. No real noteworthy plays but nice, consistent positioning on the back line and don't remember her getting beat on the dribble at any point.

oragator said:

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Rapinoe stand ? Alec Morgan said if they won World she wouldn't go to the White House - so put upon.

Maybe the White House will invite everybody but Rapinoe and Morgan . Did Morgan poll the team?

Maybe they won't win the World at all .

I dont know a lot about soccer, but I like that Morgan girl.

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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oragator said:

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Rapinoe stand ? Alec Morgan said if they won World she wouldn't go to the White House - so put upon.

Maybe the White House will invite everybody but Rapinoe and Morgan . Did Morgan poll the team?

Maybe they won't win the World at all .

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Maybe they will change their mind about attending if papa racist promises to feed them McDonald's AND Wendy's.

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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oragator said:

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Rapinoe stand ? Alec Morgan said if they won World she wouldn't go to the White House - so put upon.

Maybe the White House will invite everybody but Rapinoe and Morgan . Did Morgan poll the team?

Maybe they won't win the World at all .

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I won't root against them, but based on the performances over the last year, I'll be impressed if they win it all in France. The rest of the world has definitely closed the gap that used to be there

littlebitofhifi said:

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texagbeliever said:

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The womens team is all egos. I am rooting for a group stage knockout. America has given these women so much and yet they spit in its face at every opportunity for attention.

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Yes, because there are no egos among any US male athletes. This collective team over the past 30 years has done more for girls & women in sport around the world than most will ever realize or admit. You can hate them for wanting to continue to do more but if that's your sentiment then just ignore them. Actively rooting against them is an odd choice.

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Sure there's egos in any group of top athletes but refusing to stand for the anthem and refusing to respect the office of the president is a little overboard. They're getting what they deserve.

Because people seem to never actually read anything but headlines, all US players stand for the anthem. It is mandated by USSF and has been agreed to and complied with since Sept 2017.

And maybe we should see if the team wins and even gets a White House invite before we condemn them for not attending. But assuming they do...teams (or members of teams) who have not visited the White House in the past 2 years: UNC men's basketball, USC women's basketball, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Lynx, Philadelphia Eagles, key members of Boston Red Sox

wangus12 said:

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I won't root against them, but based on the performances over the last year, I'll be impressed if they win it all in France. The rest of the world has definitely closed the gap that used to be there

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Getting back to soccer, I have to agree. England has looked scary over the past year and that potential quarter final match vs France in Paris has me extremely nervous.

I'm glad for the sport to finally be gaining some parity and have 4-5 legit contenders this cycle but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't miss the days of guaranteed medal round finishes!

I absolutely agree that the USWNT and USMNT are opportunities to unite Americans together and cheer for one team. I do believe however that people assume Rapinoe = the entire team, follow sensationalist headlines over facts, and believe this team has more of a platform than they actually do. If one truly seeks their long term success, I hope they would understand how absolutely detrimental an early bow out would be.

USWNT average viewership in 2015 was 2.5M people. In 2018, it was down to 300k. So even in a World Cup championship season, average match viewership was 70% of the average original Hallmark's Christmas movie premieres. (Seriously...I looked it up.)

Given the mild time zone difference this year, viewership is already expected to be less than 2015 and an early bow out could mean 3-4 less of those large (~5-8M) televised matches for the US that pull up the 2019 average. Because the women's World Cup & Olympic cycles are back to back, a poor World Cup performance bleeds directly into declines for the Olympics with no possibility for bounce back until 2023. That lack of exposure is detrimental to women's sport...there just aren't enough other opportunities (see China & Mexico as prime examples of poor performance leading to pulled investments). I'm obviously not saying USSF would pull investment but lack of attendance at a celebration tour and viewership declines in this Cup would certainly not allow for more investment at a time when we're already falling behind many European nations.

So my ask is that we cheer for the trophy, watch on mute if you have to, and don't click on any articles about Rapinoe if you want to take away her platform, but recognize that this World Cup is a crucial showcase for the long term success of the USWNT and women's soccer as a whole.

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The current office of the President has done nothing to unify our citizens, so why do you expect so much from athletes?

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Bingo.

Oh I didn't realize if one person does something that lowers the bar for everyone else. I saw someone steal something so I guess that means I shouldnt expect anyone not to steal. See i have principles that condemn both the president's actions and the athletes at the same time. My principles dont blow in the political direction of the wind like yours quite clearly do.

Ha yeah right, nice try. You're putting all the unifying expectations on a group of athletes. I also expect them to honor the nation they play for, but our current state of affairs internally as a country right now are gross and everyone could do a little better.

texagbeliever said:

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Haha yeah our country has prosperity that is incomparable to any other civilization ever. More women are in colleges today then men. Lowest minority unemployment in years. But yeah fight the fight brother this country sucks.

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Lol. You seem an expert on world history. Prosperity incomparable to any other civilization ever. That's a good example of your ridiculous standard. It isn't enough for someone to love their country and believe things can be better, you come with dog whistles about how 2019 USA is the best, most successful society in the history of mankind, and anyone who disagrees with that lofty, unprovable rhetoric is unamerican, or is an athlete working to divide instead of unite.

One could actually make the argument that they are a shiny example of unity. Each member of the team has unique and often opposing views. Some are straight, some gay. Black, white. Christians, Atheists. From east & west coast and everywhere in between. And yet they come together every day for a common goal and that goal right now is to bring another World Cup back to the US. They support each other's right to opinions but they absolutely do not share the same opinions and have voiced those individually without condescending or condemning their teammates in opposition. One Nation. One Team.

/thread officially derailed. I've been wanting to start an official USWNT World Cup thread for awhile but knew it would turn into this mess rather than being able to discuss the actual event. It sucks and apologies to Jimena if she reads Texags and sees we destroyed her thread. :/

Feel free to start up a WWC thread. There's enough of us on here that can flag posts that detract from following the tourney. Mods here typically leave us alone but they're responsive when needed.

littlebitofhifi said:

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I absolutely agree that the USWNT and USMNT are opportunities to unite Americans together and cheer for one team. I do believe however that people assume Rapinoe = the entire team, follow sensationalist headlines over facts, and believe this team has more of a platform than they actually do. If one truly seeks their long term success, I hope they would understand how absolutely detrimental an early bow out would be.

USWNT average viewership in 2015 was 2.5M people. In 2018, it was down to 300k. So even in a World Cup championship season, average match viewership was 70% of the average original Hallmark's Christmas movie premieres. (Seriously...I looked it up.)

Given the mild time zone difference this year, viewership is already expected to be less than 2015 and an early bow out could mean 3-4 less of those large (~5-8M) televised matches for the US that pull up the 2019 average. Because the women's World Cup & Olympic cycles are back to back, a poor World Cup performance bleeds directly into declines for the Olympics with no possibility for bounce back until 2023. That lack of exposure is detrimental to women's sport...there just aren't enough other opportunities (see China & Mexico as prime examples of poor performance leading to pulled investments). I'm obviously not saying USSF would pull investment but lack of attendance at a celebration tour and viewership declines in this Cup would certainly not allow for more investment at a time when we're already falling behind many European nations.

So my ask is that we cheer for the trophy, watch on mute if you have to, and don't click on any articles about Rapinoe if you want to take away her platform, but recognize that this World Cup is a crucial showcase for the long term success of the USWNT and women's soccer as a whole.

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I get what you're saying and you make some excellent points about why this is such a crucial time for the USWNT...but it doesn't change the fact that Rapinoe is outspoken against this country because she thinks there's so much inequality and it doesn't change the fact that Morgan has made it clear she won't visit the White House if they win. Those aren't sensationalist headlines, that's just the truth.

As a fan, I have the right to support whoever I want and this is something that causes me to draw the line. By the way, I knew about the rule change with the USWNT about kneeling so it's not like I'm just some dude that responded to a post without knowing any information about the topic. I think that wearing the US badge on your jersey should require you to respect our country and respect our president even if you don't like them. I didn't like Obama at all but I'd relish an opportunity to meet a sitting or former president out of respect for the office.

If I were a player at that level, I wouldn't disrespect the country by kneeling or making comments like "I'll never sing the national anthem again". It's an honor to represent this country and they shouldn't take it as an opportunity to shame it.

Now there's many that don't agree with that line of thinking and I'm fine with that. All I know is that the antics of those 2 have caused me to not really give a **** about that team. They decided to open their mouths politically and I decided to just stop giving a **** about their success.

jeffk said:

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Feel free to start up a WWC thread. There's enough of us on here that can flag posts that detract from following the tourney. Mods here typically leave us alone but they're responsive when needed.

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Don't flag my posts jeff!