MUCH has been made of the United States and their result against Thailand in the Women’s World Cup.

If there was any team in this competition that had the quality and skill to reach double figures, 13 goals in this instance, it was going to be the US.

What is a shame are the people who are using the scoreline to ridicule women’s football and argue that these games are pointless — or call the US disrespectful and classless for their celebrations.

I don’t remember any of this when Germany were putting seven goals past Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

Where was the laughter and shame for Burton when Manchester City were trying to reach double figures in last season’s League Cup semi-final?

Were these people feeling sorry for Panama last summer when England were flexing their muscles out in Russia?

It was silent. If anything, there were calls for those teams to score 10+ goals.

Man City fans were giddy at the thought, wondering what would the scoreboard look like if they did score 10 goals.

There was no easing off and there shouldn’t have been.

The whole premise of football is to score as many goals as possible in 90 minutes, while the opposition tries to stop you and score goals themselves.

This is a World Cup, the best of the best, and when the opportunity is there to show your class and strike fear into the rest of the teams in France, Russia or wherever the tournament is held, you don’t let it slip.

If anything, had the United States eased off and stopped trying to score goals, which is why they stepped on the pitch, that would be extremely rude and patronising.

“You don’t want to take your foot off the pedal because you want to respect the game and play through and play them as we would play anyone else,” Kelley O’Hara said. “It is a tournament. Goal differential matters.

“At the end of the day, you can’t feel bad for scoring as many goals as possible.”

To anyone that has played sport at any level, be it professional or amateur, you’ve been in the situation where you are on the hands of a beating and you can’t wait for the final whistle.

In those games, what is worse, when they score another goal or when they purposefully miss just so you don’t feel any worse?

It’s the latter. Scoring goals isn’t showboating.

The United States weren’t doing kick-ups and sending the goalkeeper up for corners to try and get in on the scoring act.

They continued to play the game in the correct manner and did nothing wrong.

And as for the celebrations, it’s a World Cup. The pinnacle of a player’s career.

You would celebrate every goal with as much vigour as possible. You never know when you will next get the opportunity — even in a match where your team has scored 13 goals.

Was Mallory Pugh meant to calm her celebrations down after scoring her first goal at a World Cup?

What about Alex Morgan? Was she meant to pretend that scoring five goals in a match, tying a record set by Michelle Akers 28 years ago, wasn’t a huge achievement and a big deal? Of course not. 

And Abby Wambach, the leading goal scorer in US women’s football history with 184 goals, leapt to the defence of her former teammates.

“For all that have issue with many goals: for some players this is their first World Cup goal, and they should be excited,” Wambach tweeted. 

“Imagine it being you out there. This is your dream of playing and then scoring in a World Cup. Celebrate. Would you tell a men’s team to not score or celebrate?”

It was a group stage game where the world witnessed a team firing on all cylinders — just like they did in the men’s FA Cup final.

Manchester City were on fire, beating Watford 6-0 and yes, there were some arguments then that Pep Guardiola’s side took things too far and should have eased off.

But again, that isn’t the point of football.

Thailand head coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian was in no way upset or angry with the United States for scoring over a dozen goals.

“We accept the score today,” Srathongvian said. “We haven’t done enough. We accept that they are very strong and they were excellent all around. We accept our mistakes and we are going to improve.”

Thailand are “going to improve,” that’s the attitude to have after the game.

The team talk in the dressing room after should have been easy.

“This is the level we need to reach, let’s work on how to be this good so that we are never on the receiving end of this scoreline.”

The Thailand players will have learnt more from this scoreline than had the US stopped trying at 5-0, how does that help them improve?

It’s a very dark and twisted way to view sport but sometimes, losing heavily can be beneficial.

Thailand will do everything in their power to not get beaten that heavily ever again and the US have warned the rest of the competition that they are not here to mess about.

“For these players, four years now some of them have been working, some of them even longer,” US coach Jill Ellis said. “I don’t find it my job to go and harness my players and rein them in. This is a world championship.

“It’s how you want to start a tournament. You want to have this feeling.

“It’s having players feeling good about their game.”

The sentiment was shared by the players.

“We wanted to make a statement,” Julie Ertz said. “We wanted to come together and show all the tools that we have.”

And that they did.

In a tournament where some teams have looked out of their depth, it further highlights the gulf in class between teams and puts a spotlight on those countries and federations who see women’s football as an afterthought.

Jamaica, for instance, aren’t paying their coaching staff, all of whom are in France as volunteers.

They could have been on the end of a similar result against Brazil on Sunday had goalkeeper Sydney Schneider not been at her absolute best.

They should have looked at the Thailand result and felt ashamed that they have sent a team that hasn’t been fully backed by those with the power to do so.

It also puts a spotlight on Fifa, perhaps forcing them to step in and share the billions of dollars they have to help develop some of these teams.

It isn’t about handouts, it’s about making the women’s game as good as it can be and football’s world governing body is there to be of assistance where possible.

The United States beating Thailand 13-0 isn’t a bad thing, if anything it could have sparked change across a number of countries and their football federations.