Competitive imbalance

A few things Thailand's women's soccer team might have said after losing to the United States eleventy-hundred to zero yesterday in the women's World Cup:

"Hey! What the heck did we ever do to you?"

"OK! We get it! You're way better than us!"

"We're Thailand, dammit, not Alabama!"

"Good luck getting Marriott points the next time you visit one of our lovely resorts!"

And of course:

"ENOUGH WITH THE DAMN CELEBRATING! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE BEATING RONALDO, YOU KNOW!"

No, indeed. This was Golden State vs. the 40-and-over noon rec league. It was Ali vs. Don Knotts. It was ... well, the U.S. women's soccer team, one of the mightiest sides in  the world, vs. the Ladybugs from the Orange Slice Youth League.

And so the Blob got a hearty chuckle when it read in a few places that the USWNT made a "statement" yesterday in their 13-0 annihilation of the poor Thais. Why, yes, it did. It made the statement that the U.S. team can score at will against a side that, frankly, has no business being in the World Cup. In fact, it might struggle in the aforementioned Orange Slice League.

There is always something distasteful in watching a massive overdog gleefully pile onto a pitifully overmatched "opponent"; it's like a grown man crowing about taking a 6-year-old to the tin in driveway hoops. But the Blob assigns no particular blame here to the USWNT.

 They played the opponent they were scheduled to play. And it is the World Cup. No letting 'em up easy need apply.

No, the blame here is the qualifying system, which allowed Thailand to qualify for a level of soccer for which it doesn't seem remotely prepared. I don't know how you fix this; the sad fact is, the level of disparity among national teams on the women's side is glaring to the point of farce sometimes, which is what we saw yesterday. Until the rest of the world catches up to the U.S. and the other women's powers, more of the same will follow, to one degree or another.

So, please, everyone. Slow the roll. What happened yesterday was no "statement" by the USWT. It was merely a stark window into the state of the women's game -- and how far some national sides have to go to be regarded as legitimate World Cup contenders.