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Now it's England's turn to be salty about Alex Morgan's World Cup celebrations
Catherine Ivill - FIFA
Let's flashback to a few weeks ago, ancient history as some might say. The summer was still young, the Knicks still had a chance of landing KD, and reporters could still set foot in the Mets locker room without fear of being clobbered over the back of the head with a bat and stuffed in the broom closet. It was a time of great joy and optimism in America, due in no small part to the USWNT's 13-nil triumph over Thailand in their opening game of the 2019 Women's World Cup. Some, particularly our neighbors to the north, however, weren't feeling quite so jubilant, criticizing Alex Morgan and co. for continuing to celebrate deep into the embers of the raging goal inferno.
Since then the USWNT has been dogged by critics—including their own president—who have hounded them for being too American (or not American enough) as they continued to pile up the goals and wins with relative ease. On Tuesday in their semi-final matchup with England, with lightning rod Megan Rapinoe watching from the bench, the U.S. women racked up more of the same, bagging a berth in the final on the back of two decisive VAR decisions, a penalty save, and yet another goal from Ms. Morgan, on her 30th birthday no less. And just like last time, the critics of the U.S.'s controversial "have fun while playing a game" attitude came storming out of the woodwork, this time led by 50-cap England international Lisanne Sanderson, who took umbrage specifically with Morgan's tea-sipping celebration.
Despite Morgan demonstrating proper technique, with the pinky out and everything, Sanderson still called the move "distasteful." Never let anyone tell you the English aren't sticklers for etiquette.
In Sanderson's defense, though, she does say she's typically a fan of Alex Morgan's celebrations and if you don't expect to ruffle a few feathers by mocking another country's culture after you just scored on them, then what's even the point? So yes, Sanderson has firmer ground to stand on here than her Canadian counterparts did a few weeks back, but still, all Morgan did was stop for spot of mime tea. There are more than enough actual problems to get worked up about in both the U.S. and England at the moment, so if you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen...especially if the kettle is already boiling.