USWNT: Alex Morgan and co. have every right to celebrate

The USWNT have been criticised for their over-exuberant celebrations in Tuesday’s 13-0 win over Thailand. But I feel Alex Morgan and co. had every right to. Here’s why.

Imagine that feeling of scoring at a World Cup. That moment of absolute elation, the culmination of a life’s hard work, all the blood, sweat and tears that have been poured in. The immense pride in knowing you’ve done what only a handful of the game’s best get to do. Then imagine being told to calm down, to keep your celebrations to a minimum out of ‘respect’ for your opponent.

This is what the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team had to wake up to in France on Wednesday morning after their 13-0 demolition of Thailand on Tuesday.

A quick look at the stats tells you exactly how dominant the USA were over their Thai counterparts, outpassing them 541-134 and outshooting them by an incredible margin of 40-2 as they racked up a record-breaking victory in their opening World Cup game.

But should Alex Morgan, Lindsey Horan and co. have celebrated each goal so vigorously? Should Sam Mewis have kept things low key and respectful after she notched her first and second ever World Cup goals? Hell no.

This is professional football. As defending champions and three-time World Cup winners, the USWNT are at the very pinnacle of what they do. As penned by The Athletic’s Megan Linehan, you don’t get into these positions by playing nice. This was a sentiment also aired by head coach Jill Ellis, who said after the game:

"“This is a world championship so every team here has been fantastic to get to this point. I think to be respectful to opponents is to play hard against them. And it’s a tournament where goal differential is a criteria <…> As a coach, I don’t find it’s my job to go and harness my players and rein them in, because this is what they’ve dreamt about, a world championship. I respect Thailand, I celebrate that they are here. I spoke to some of the players afterwards and [said] keep your heads up because this is part of the growth of the game.”"

Thailand worked themselves into the ground trying to keep up with the USA and had goalkeeper Sukanya Chor-Charoenying not made seven saves, things could have been much worse.

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But the USA’s players and staff showed their recognition of that at the final whistle, with each of them going straight to the Thailand players to console them, telling them to stay strong for the upcoming games, then swapping shirts with them. It was classy and showed exactly the type of character that Ellis has in her side right now.

However, for all of Thailand’s endeavour, they’re simply nowhere near the USA’s level. Should the USA players be the ones to apologise for that? No. All they can do is beat what’s in front of them and, if they can, have fun along the way. If an elite athlete smells blood or sees a record in sight, you can bet your bottom dollar they will go for it.

Should Morgan pull another five-goal performance out of the hat against Chile, expect her to celebrate in the exact same fashion. She’s worked for it, she’s earned it. It is what she does and it is awesome to watch.

World Cups are won and lost with relentless quality, ultimate professionalism and teams which show no mercy and never let their standards drop, but are graceful after the heat of battle. On Tuesday night, this is exactly what was on display from the USWNT, and the sooner they are commended for a truly incredible performance, the better.