It was ruthless. And, it was remarkable.
The United States set a World Cup record today for the most goals scored in a match, as they trounced Thailand 13-0 in front of a sold-out stadium of more than 21,000 fans in Reims, France.
Seven different players scored in the match, with Alex Morgan leading the US with five goals, which matches the single-game goal-scoring record set in 1991 by American Michelle Akers, who netted five against Chinese Taipei.
The other goal scorers were Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis, who both scored twice, and Lindsey Horan, Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh, and Carli Lloyd.
The US was without Becky Sauerbraun on defense, who didn’t play due to a quadricipes “issue.” This put Julie Ertz in her spot on the back line, with Mewis sliding into Ertz’s midfield spot.
Morgan scored the first goal, just 12 minutes into the match, heading in a cross from Kelley O’Hara. Lavelle blasted a shot past Thailand’s goalkeeper Sukanya Chor Charoenying in the 20th minute and Horan made in 3-0 in the 32nd minute after Tobin Heath drove a free kick into the box, which bounced off of Mewis and in front of Horan.
Leading 3-0 at the start of the second half, the US started pounding goals with a blistering strike from Mewis in the 50th minute. Three more goals were scored within the next six minutes, with Morgan, Lavelle, and Mewis each getting their second goals of the match.
Lloyd came in for Lavelle and Christen Press came in for Heath in the 56th minute, with Pugh coming in for Ertz in the 68th. It was obvious that the US was not ready to stop the scoring, as the substitutions added more offense after an already lopsided score.
And, the US continued to score, with Morgan getting her hat trick in the 74th minute and Rapinoe making a long sprint on the counter-attack to put the Americans up 9-0. Morgan scored her fourth in the 81st minute, Pugh made it 11-0 in the 84th, and Morgan scored her record-tying fifth goal in the 87th minute.
With a 12-0 score, three minutes of stoppage time were added because…maybe because Lloyd hadn’t scored yet. So, in the second minute of stoppage time, Lloyd scored the final goal of the match.
This match wasn’t expected to be challenging for the US, but with the 13-0 victory, the US has received a lot of criticism, from a lot of people – on social media and from broadcast commentators – about continuing to score and celebrate their goals.
US head coach Jill Ellis responded to the criticism:
“For these players, four years now some of them have been working, some of them even longer. I don’t find it my job to go and harness my players and rein them in. This is a world championship.”
And, here’s another thing to consider: had the US beat Thailand 3-0, we would be hearing from the critics about the team’s lack of dominance over an inferior team. This is the World Cup – this isn’t a kid’s league or a women’s recreational league. These women have sacrificed and worked extremely hard to get to this level and then they’re expected to play down because they’re dominating?
The competition will get stiffer and the US will have to continue to score and to dominate, in order to defend their title.
Next up for the US will be Chile on Sunday, June 16 at 12 p.m. ET at Parc des Princes in Paris.
Culture
Women's World Cup
