Oh no:

The Republicans are having a field day with this one. Just absolutely going to town on social.

I’m trying to work an equal pay joke into the story, like “now the U.S women are just as shitty as the U.S. men.” Something like that. They now exit the World Cup in the same round as their male counterparts, so we’ve succeeding in leveling the playing field, so to speak.

What’s crazy is that the USWNT conceded just one goal in four games, and yet they’re going home. They beat Vietnam 3-0, tied Netherlands 1-1 (scored on a setpiece), finished the group with a 0-0 draw against Portugal, then kept another clean sheet against Sweden, only to lose on penalties. They allowed just two shots on goal in four games, so don’t blame the defense. The defense and goalkeeping was great. The forwards stunk and the midfield was just okay. Coach was terrible. Vlatko couldn’t manage his way out of a wet paper bag in this tournament. People will talk about Rapinoe because the “woke” thing makes for good headlines and tweets, but she played a minor role in the tournament.

This is the first time EVER that the U.S. women have been eliminated prior to the semifinals. A 238 minute goal-scoring drought will do that to you. And if it feels like the reaction (removing the political and social vitriol) is a bit harsh, its’s not, because U.S. women’s soccer is one of the premier sporting programs on the globe. The level of expectation is justifiably high, right up there with Alabama football, Duke basketball, the New York Yankees, LA Lakers, Real Madrid, and any other historically successful program. This was a gross underperformance from a team that should have done much better.