Leveling the Playing Field: USWNT Dominates Thailand on Their Quest for World Cup Glory

During a time in our country when the topic of equal pay between men and women is brought up and often looked over as soon as it is introduced, what better way to demand our attention on the matter than a 13-0 annihilation of Thailand's soccer team in the 2019 World Cup? This was the first game for the USWNT (United States Women's National Team) in the tournament, and they wasted no time in making it known they weren't fooling around. With the most recent World Cup championship under their belts (after a dominating performance outscoring Japan 5-2 in 2015), the U.S. had a reputation to keep, and an agenda to pursue. It's safe to say that as fans, not paying attention to the team after that vicious opening game is out of the question.

The game of soccer has notoriously been a low scoring sport. The low amount of scoring or lack thereof has often been cited to me as a reason people turn away from watching or participating. Whether we are simply used to high-scoring sports in the U.S, or equate low scoring games to small amounts of action, soccer seems to have gathered a reputation to those less familiar with the game as "boring."

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Subsequently, the only way to describe the commanding scoreline over Thailand would be whichever word can directly contradict "boring." Lively? Check. Eventful? Yep. Electric? Absolutely. High-scoring? Considering the U.S. women would go on to win by the biggest margin in a single World Cup game including BOTH men's and women's competitions, we can check high-scoring off the list too.

Here are the facts:

Goals scored: Team USA: 13, Thailand: 0

Possession: Team USA: 73%, Thailand: 27%

Shots: Team USA: 40, Thailand: 2 (20 on target versus Thailand's 2)

Corners: Team USA: 10, Thailand, 0

Each team committed 5 fouls on the day.

(Per BBC Sport)

So what does it all mean? Even if you ask the non-soccer fan, the result is clear: Domination for the USA. Yet, weren't we told as young players to hold off once the score got too high so that the other team was left with some dignity? Clearly, our ladies in red, white, and blue had other plans. Coming away from a game up 3-0 is enough to send a warning to fellow competitors in the tournament. Coming away up 13-0 is enough to send a warning to the record books for years to come.

NESN.com

One of the many messages a 13 goal margin sends is of encouragement from the women on the field to the women across the United States to refuse to take their foot off the gas in the push for equal pay. Whatever your view is on the matter, the USWNT performing consistently with more success than their higher paid male counterparts at least asks you to hear them out. They aren't forcing politics down your throat; they are just doing their job, and they're doing it well.

What is important about the game (besides the U.S. taking their place at the top of Group F) is the culture that the USWNT is creating. For years women have been pushing for equality in pay for performing the same job as men. For the U.S. women, the push has been for equal pay after performing the same job as the men, and consistently better. One has to ask themselves how fair it would be to place high and even win multiple World Cups while your male counterparts struggle to qualify.

To be clear, the purpose of this article isn't to bash the men's team. Support is needed across the board if we want soccer to continue to rise in popularity across the United States. With young talents such as Christian Pulisic, Timothy Weah, Gysasi Zardes, Jordan Morris, and Tyler Adams, the men's side has the potential to show well in international competitions for years to come. Along with the success of talented leaders like Alex Morgan (who scored a staggering 5 goals on Tuesday), Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh, and Carly Lloyd, our women's side is certainly already on track for continued success on the world's biggest soccer stage.

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I'm not saying that the women sat in the locker room and had a gameplan to push a political agenda, but by scoring 13 goals in an opening world cup game, a message was inevitably sent. It's through continued narratives of excellence and a recognition of what our women's team has accomplished that they bring attention to the matter of righteous pay within sports and on to other professions. The reality is that the USWNT needs to continue succeeding in order to keep this topical issue on the front page of the news in America. If you weren't paying attention before to the issue of pay inequality before this 13 goal bout, there is no better time than the present to watch and support the USWNT's quest on and off the field.