Most members of the US girls’s soccer workforce stayed silent in the course of the nationwide anthem earlier than its World Cup opener Friday towards newcomers Vietnam — who passionately belted their nation’s tune.
The majority of the reigning girls’s World Cup champion workforce stared stoically forward because the “Star Spangled Banner” blasted throughout New Zealand’s Eden Park area.
Only 5 of the 11 gamers who stood on the sphere for the anthem — with younger, aspiring gamers standing earlier than them — positioned their palms over their hearts, whereas their six teammates stored their digits clasped behind their backs, video exhibits.
Only three USWNT gamers — Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Lindsey Horan — sang together with the tons of of American supporters watching within the stands.
Comparatively, members of World Cup debutant Vietnam emphatically crooned their nationwide music “Tiến Quân Ca,” or “Song of a Marching Army.”
All 11 gamers passionately sang alongside to the anthem in unison, with their proper arms exactly held over their hearts.
The coaches and followers passionately joined the chanting for the primary time their nationwide music was ever performed on the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In spite of their competitor’s obvious charisma, the USNWT workforce decimated Vietnam 3-0 within the workforce’s historic sport.
The two-time defending champions went into the opening match trying to set the tone for what they hope to be their third-consecutive title clinch.
The girls’s USWNT workforce has an advanced historical past with the nationwide anthem.
Tiến Quân Ca 🎶
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ANTHEM IS PLAYED AT THE FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP! 🇻🇳 pic.twitter.com/gflhypkC0r
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 22, 2023
Forward Megan Rapinoe has repeatedly knelt throughout “The “Star-Spangled Banner” following NFL participant Colin Kaepernick’s protest in 2016.
Rapinoe, who’s enjoying in her final World Cup earlier than retiring and was the primary girl to kneel within the observe, claimed within the weeks earlier than her workforce’s 2019 World Cup win that she would “by no means put my hand over my coronary heart.”
“I’ll in all probability by no means sing the nationwide anthem once more,” she mentioned on the time.
In 2021, just one member of the USNWT Women’s National Team didn’t kneel forward of a match towards Australia.
