Ever since the United States Women's National Team defeated Thailand in their opening match of the 2019 World Cup, talk of the game has dominated the news cycle.

Caught up in the excitement of the win and seeing my team finally play up to their promise, I wasn't particularly tuned in to the building anger and frustration others had about what was happening. I didn't think too much about the score or the celebrations, but I also know I didn't have much perspective from which to see the bigger picture. But as I checked in on post-game commentary, I began to see why non-Americans viewed the events of the game differently than I did.

Despite the fact that Thailand is one of the handful of southeast Asian nations the United States doesn't have prominent questionable political or military history with, the optics of a stacked, strong American team demolishing them certainly weren't great. It's not difficult to see why someone watching would find it distasteful and upsetting.