A departure in the knockout round was considered something to build upon for the youthful U.S. Men’s National Team last fall at the World Cup in Qatar.
For many reasons, such encouragement is not the case on the women’s side. An exit in the same stage Sunday in Australia is being construed as a colossal failure for the two-time defending champions.
Of course, a portion of Americans are elated — for political or personal reasons — that the women were eliminated prematurely. A few massive soccer fans that I know, in fact, openly were rooting for the U.S. side to get bounced.
The hullabaloo about several starting players not singing the national anthem before games was a contrived and selective criticism. You rarely see politicians or athletes in other sports getting ripped for not singing along, even while representing the country in international competition.
