World Cup

On June 7, the eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off in Paris, France. The USWNT entered the tournament as the defending champion and the world’s No. 1 ranked side, and the team can still rely on Carli Lloyd, who finished joint-top scorer in 2015 with six goals. However, when it comes to the most Women’s World Cup goals of all time, the 36-year-old remains just outside the top 10 with eight total goals.

That was a strange one. In the end, France delighted the 34,872 in attendance at the Allianz Riviera with a 2-1 victory over Norway to move to the top of Group A and all but guarantee passage to the Round of 16, but how they got there was a wild ride.

The first half wasn’t so wild. The atmosphere inside the home of OGC Nice was wonderful, but neither goalkeeper made a save of note in the opening 45 minutes. Thankfully, the home supporters only had to wait one minute to see the opening goal in the second half.

Spain is widely considered a rising power in women’s soccer, and la Roja had a tremendous opportunity to accentuate that sentiment with a victory over two-time world champion Germany on Wednesday. But they blew it, and their failure is compounded by the fact that they’re now possibly on a collision course with the USWNT in the Round of 16.

The majority of the first half was dominated by Spain, and two glorious opportunities fell to Nahikari García to open the scoring in the opening 14 minutes. 

The USWNT defeated Thailand 13-0 on Tuesday, making actual analysis of the game about as meaningful as discussing who won the big fight between the ice cube and the Sun. So we quickly moved on to one of the great, redundant bits of virtue signaling in sports — the argument over “running up the score.” 

The U.S. women’s national team ran rampant on Thailand on Tuesday. The last teams to kick off their tournament, the U.S. flirted with setting the record for most goals scored in a single World Cup game.

The U.S. finished with a 13-0 win over Thailand, including four goals scored over a six-minute span early in the second half, the fastest four goals in Women’s World Cup history. 

But was it the record for most goals scored in a single World Cup game?

Many utilized the build-up to the USWNT’s World Cup opener against Thailand to criticize manager Jill Ellis, which is an ingenious position to take because you’re right if they win (“In spite of her!”) and you’re right if they lose (“Told ya!”), but after watching the States utilize “the Zdeněk Zeman method” at kick off before shifting into a sort of 2-3-5 in possession, I gotta say, I