‘US Women’ soccer team loses 12-0 to men in million-dollar tournament: ‘We’re being brave’

A team comprised of U.S. women’s soccer legends and some of the best female players in the world lost with an astounding 12-0 score to Wrexham AFC, a team from Wales made up of current, former, and guest players.

CBS Sports reported on the game featured in “The Tournament,” a 7-on-7 soccer competition with a $1 million prize to the tournament winner.

The “US Women” brought a team made up of “a roster full of some of the best women’s soccer players in the world,” which was “captained by legendary U.S. Women’s National Team player Heather O’Reilly. O’Reilly has been playing professional soccer since 2004.”

The outcome was less than desirable for the women’s team however, as they gave up seven goals in the first 20 minutes of the game, which was played in two 20-minute halves. The game ended with a 12th and final goal, initiating a mercy rule just after the 40th minute in the overtime period.

While the women’s goalkeeper, Lindsey Harris, was often pictured emotional and at times dejected, the women’s team made no excuses and had an extremely positive outlook on the game.

“We’re super proud,” said O’Reilly, a World Cup Champion. “Hopefully we’ve proved to anybody, just go for it, just live. What’s the worst that could happen? We lose 16-0 to Wrexham?” she asked.

“We don’t care because we’re living, we’re being bold and we’re being brave. Here we have two amazing products that American soccer fans are getting behind. It’s just a ton of fun and it’s brought all of us together,” she added.

The team scored just one goal in their three games played, losing 5-0 to a team representing historically black colleges and universities and 7-1 to a second-tier professional Italian team. The aforementioned Wrexham AFC is a Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who have made a historic rise in the ranks of English soccer through the help of their celebrity ownership.

The pleasant responses from the female players is indeed a change of tune when compared to the official U.S. Women’s National Team, which sued the U.S. Soccer Federation. Five women from the team filed a complaint claiming they did not receive pay equal to the men’s national team. The federation settled for $24 million.

Included in that lawsuit was player Megan Rapinoe, who has made rounds in the political talk-show circuit speaking on the issue and recently joined a group to oppose the exclusion of female-identifying men in women’s sports.