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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Beau Dure

The USWNT enter the World Cup loved, despised and still influential

The US celebrate their victory at the 2023 SheBelieves Cup. They enter the World Cup as betting favorites
The US celebrate their victory at the 2023 SheBelieves Cup. They enter the World Cup as betting favorites. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

A seven-a-side match featuring a collection of retired Wrexham pros and guests against a team of mostly retired US women’s players isn’t particularly newsworthy. But when the score wound up 12-0 in favor of the men, the knives were out.

Some outlets, notably Fox News, either ignorantly or deliberately misidentified the American players as “the US women’s team”. Some played up Heather O’Reilly’s playful callout of Wrexham’s celebrity owner Ryan Reynolds as a hysterical, delusional fit. From newsrooms to their parents’ basements, men rejoiced at the supposed humbling of women who dared to demand a place in the sports marketplace.

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