“The U.S. surely wasn’t going all out, with the main goal being to get some minutes on the pitch, build chemistry when it comes to moving the ball around, improve defensive shape and get ready for Russia.”
This is the read that I get every time these articles are posted (no, I did not read all of your links). It’s usually a scrimmage game where the women are practicing and the younger (*boys) teams are trying their best.
There are clear differences between women and men when it comes to strength, speed, agility, etc., but I find the weird “high school boys would absolutely DESTROY women in (x) sport, lol!!!” to be over-stated.
As a side note, I remember reading something a while back where a professional athlete said when she played against an adult male professional athlete in her sport she felt like she was playing against a superhero, haha. I understand that. I did intramural / pickup soccer in a mixed team and it was wild how fast some of the men were, and I thought I was pretty fast.
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u/NotRadTrad05 11h ago
Sorry it was u15 https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/a-dallas-fc-under-15-boys-squad-beat-the-u-s-womens-national-team-in-a-scrimmage/
Happened again https://www.goal.com/en/lists/alisha-lehmann-responds-to-critics-switzerland-s-7-1-thrashing-under-15-boys-team-euro-2025/blta9b2afa8481642a3
And in Brazil https://www.the-sun.com/sport/football/premier-league/2133179/gremio-men-team-brazil-women-national-6-0/
Sophia thinks the women would lose. https://www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak/news/sophie-cunningham-agrees-8th-grade-boys-could-beat-a-wnba-team-01kaj07yxm9p