2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

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Overview

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup is the eighth Women's World Cup Football tournament, taking place between June 7th and July 7th, 2019, in France.

Background

On March 19th, 2015, France was officially announced as the hosts of the 2019 Women's World Cup.^[1] 24 teams qualified for the tournament, with USA coming in as the defending champions. It is the first women's tournament to use a Video-Assisted-Referee (VAR) system.^[2]

Developments

USA's 13-0 Win Over Thailand

On June 11th, the USA won their match against Thailand 13-0. It was the most goals scored by a team in World Cup history, for both men's and women's tournaments.^[3] The lopsided victory led to some criticism: while commentators did not mind the USA putting in as many goals as possible, the team's exuberant celebrations of the later goals struck some commentators as unsportsmanlike.^[4] Guardian writer Arwa Mahdawi wrote:

There was no need to be quite so over-the-top in their celebration, especially when they were playing a team that was clearly the underdog. The exuberance wouldn’t have been an issue if USA had thrashed France 13-0, but this wasn’t a fair fight. The celebration felt unnecessary and cruel.

The sentiments were echoed by Twitter commentators including @TaylorTwellman^[5] (shown below, left) and Andrew Das^[6] (shown below, middle). Abby Wambach defended the celebrations, saying it was World Cup Soccer and criticism had a sexist bend (shown below, right).

Some politicians also took the drubbing to argue that women should be paid equal to men, as there is a stark disparity in the salaries of men's and women's soccer players, which the women's team has been fighting against.^[3] Senator Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor:

“This is an issue of basic fairness. Performances aside -- and the women have been excellent and often dominant over the past two decades -- we shouldn’t reward women less for doing the same work as men.”

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USA World Cup Win

On July 7th, the USA won the final game of the tournament 2-0 over the Netherlands. It marks the team's second straight World Cup victory, and their 4th overall, the most all time in women's soccer (shown below). Megan Rapinoe won the Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in the tournament^[7] as well as the Golden Ball, given for best overall player in the tournament.

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After the game, fans enthused by Rapinoe's performance joked she should be president of the country. User @DLind^[8] tweeted such a joke, gaining over 1,400 retweets and 16,000 likes (shown below, left). User @KahlanR^[9] tweeted Rapinoe and Alex Morgan should be on US Money, gaining over 1,100 retweets and 8,100 likes (shown below, right).

Megan Rapinoe's Goal Celebration

Megan Rapinoe's Goal Celebration refers to a pose struck by US Women's National Soccer Team player Megan Rapinoe after scoring the opening goal in her team's quarterfinals game against France in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The pose inspired jokes which used it as a reaction image, paired with captions describing moments of pride or self-satisfaction.

On June 28th, 2019, the US Women's National Soccer Team played France in the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. Early in the game, Megan Rapinoe scored on a free kick. Afterwards, she celebrated by striking a pose in front of the crowd (shown below).

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The pose was immediately noticed by viewers. Sports writer Bill Simmons called it one of his favorite sports pictures of the decade, gaining over 5,900 retweets and 65,000 likes (shown below, left). Many, including Bleacher Report, noticed that her pose was similar to that of the signature pose of WWE superstar Randy Orton (shown below, right). Orton tweeted saying Rapinoe "knows how to celebrate."

Alex Morgan's Goal Celebration

Alex Morgan's Goal Celebration refers to a celebration by US Women's National Soccer Team player Alex Morgan after scoring a goal against England in her team's semi-final game in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. After she scored, she appeared to mime sipping tea, which led to divided reactions amongst US and England supporters, the former of which reveled in Morgan's celebrations while some of the latter found it disrespectful.

On July 2nd, 2019, the US Women's National Team faced England in the semi-final of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. After scoring, she celebrated by appearing to mime sipping tea with her pinky up, which may have been an imitation of the way high-class English people drink tea (shown below).

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Twitter users were quickly opinionated on Morgan's celebration. Americans tended to be fans, joking as though it were a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a riot before the American Revolution in which colonial Americans dumped British tea into the Boston harbor. User @harrykanefc tweeted such a reference, gaining over 2,300 retweets and 11,000 likes (shown below, left). @ComplexSports also tweeted their appreciation for the celebration, gaining over 9,000 retweets and 39,000 likes (shown below, right).

Bleacher Report's Celebratory Flag

After the USA's victory, Bleacher Report tweeted and deleted a bizarre flag which featured both the USA women's team and multiple, unrelated celebrities such as the cast of Friends, Ellen Degeneres, Taylor Swift, and more (shown below).

Twitter users joked about the bizarre flag. User @ChuckNaso tweeted a GIF of Antonio Banderas representing the Bleacher Report graphic design editor, gaining 70 retweets and 920 likes (shown below, left). User @GradientLA tweeted that the graphic was "so random (shown below, right).