Lee Heidhues 7.22.2023
Leave it to the tabloid style All American New York Post to put into print what I was thinking while watching the Americans grind out a 3-0 win over the tough Vietnamese in a World Cup match up in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Post gushingly reports that the Vietnamese national team, “emphatically crooned their national song “Tiến Quân Ca,” or “Song of a Marching Army.” These women have something to sing for and I am sure what those before them were doing decades ago. Fighting an American aggressor.
I applaud without reservation the American women who refuse to observe the flag of a country which denigrates women and people of color.
What really struck me during the entire match is the reality that America, in its striving for global hegemony laid waste to this small proud Asian nation for 20 years. Disrupting the fibre of American life forever and causing the deaths of 55,000 young Americans. Killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese. For what?
American pride and ego.
It cheers me that while the American women on the pitch in New Zealand were not thinking much about what happened over 50 years ago, they were thinking about America today.
Kudos to them all.
Excerpted from The New York Post 7.22.2023
Most members of the US women’s soccer team stayed silent during the national anthem before its World Cup opener Friday against newcomers Vietnam — who passionately belted their nation’s tune.
The majority of the reigning women’s World Cup champion team stared stoically ahead as the “Star Spangled Banner” blasted across New Zealand’s Eden Park arena.
Only five of the 11 players who stood on the field for the anthem — with young, aspiring players standing before them — placed their hands over their hearts, while their six teammates kept their digits clasped behind their backs, video shows.
Only three USWNT players — Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Lindsey Horan — sang along with the hundreds of American supporters watching in the stands.
Comparatively, members of World Cup debutant Vietnam emphatically crooned their national song “Tiến Quân Ca,” or “Song of a Marching Army.”
All 11 players passionately sang along to the anthem in unison, with their right arms precisely held over their hearts.
The coaches and fans passionately joined the chanting for the first time their national song was ever played at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Top photo: American women stand silent during playing of national anthem at World Cup opener in Auckland, New Zealand – 7.22.2023
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