Humbled

A few months back, or maybe it was several years ago, I posted a blog on the topic of the USWNT, perhaps better known as the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team.

They had just won their second consecutive cup and were really crowing about it. They kept crowing about it at some level all the way up to the current Women’s World Cup competition being held in Australia and New Zealand, producing promotional material and ads that really tried to drive home the point that the rest of the world was, once again, going to have a hard time stopping the Americans.

In that blog, I was reacting to what seemed to me an uncharacteristic, over-the-top amount of bravado and boasting, and ended by saying I hoped the U.S. team got their asses kicked in 2023, mainly because boasting and trash talk get old quickly for me and I really can’t stand it. Basically, I was hoping the U.S. would get its comeuppance, suffer some sort of karmic disaster.

It seems that has just happened, as the U.S. lost to Sweden on penalty kicks—and apparently a penalty kick that was initially stopped by the American goal tender but still managed to somehow cross the goal line. Ouch.

In reality, the U.S. and Sweden are probably evenly matched teams, playing to a nil-nil draw in regulation and extra time. But someone had to win, and this time it wasn’t the United States.

I can hear the commentary already, and can envision what’s gonna be in the print editions tomorrow morning: a disaster for the U.S women, much soul-searching, calls for the manager’s head, questionable talent, poor chemistry, a reevaluation of the whole program. And so on. But in addition to whatever shake-ups may come, what also is happening is that the rest of the world has caught up to us, and 2019 may have been the last cup we’ll win for a while.

Going forward, maybe less gloating and distractions off the pitch, and more focus on what happens on it, will keep us competitive, yield more preferable results.