USWNT players have earned the right to publicly celebrate

The hubbub over Alex Morgan’s celebration, the latest criticism lobbed at this USWNT, overlooks that these players have earned the right to publicly celebrate greatness.

In soccer, goals can often be rare. The rarity of such a feat makes the celebrations that much better.

In the case of the USWNT at this Women’s World Cup, goals have not been rare. And the celebrations have been great.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks so. Instead of celebrating these amazing women, critics have made it a sport of their own to go after them.

The goal scored by Alex Morgan against England in the semifinals this past Tuesday remains a hotly-debated one. Not for the goal itself, but the celebration that followed. The fallout continues after some critics have decided that a gesture like raising your pinkie in the air and mimicking the drinking of a cup of tea is somehow insensitive.

Instead of answering questions on Sunday’s final against the Netherlands, Morgan had to defend her actions, when nothing she did was wrong.

“I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports, to feel like we have to be humble in our successes and have to celebrate, but not too much or in a limited fashion,” she told reporters on Friday in Lyon, the French city that will host the final.

https://twitter.com/FoxSportsRadio/status/1146489705065844736

Good for Morgan for calling out the sexist double standard that exists in sports, and apparently, even the way men and women are supposed to celebrate success in a public setting.

Morgan said the gesture was, in part, in honor of British “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner, whose Instagram posts use the catchphrase “and that’s the tea” while sipping from a cup.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1147204079417999360

While Turner’s post made for some good fun, it remains unfortunate that Morgan has been forced to address this issue three days after the game and with a championship on the line. This has become an unnecessary distraction for a group of players that has played wonderful soccer the past four weeks.

The soccer has been so great that Morgan and her teammates have earned the right to celebrate any way they want, especially when male athletes often do so in the crudest of ways with little focus.

“You see men celebrating all around the world in big tournaments, you know,” Morgan said, pointing out that some have done so in the past by grabbing their crotch. “When I look at sipping a cup of tea, I’m a little taken aback [by critics].”

The players became a target in their first match when they defeated Thailand 13-0. Some thought the players had celebrated with too much gusto once the score was out of reach. Again, that was an unwarranted attack on the players.

With six goals at France 2019, Morgan is poised to not only win a second World Cup, but also the Golden Boot as tournament top scorer. She has every right to publicly rejoice for her years of hard work. Is the sight of women celebrating, in this case a group of talented athletes, so rare that it draws criticism? It’s a sad state of affairs of that’s the case.

The critics, however, may be in for some more finger-wagging come the final. The Americans are heavily favored against the Netherlands. Can’t wait to see what these women will come up with should they win back-to-back titles as the best women’s soccer team on the planet.