World Cup Soccer Stats Erase The Sport's Most DominantPlayers: Women

There are few sporting events I get as excited about as the World Cup. I played soccer in highschool, in the NCAA, and for five years post-college, including two glorious years in the Golden GateWomen's League, Premier Division. What the U.S. Men's National Team has accomplished isextraordinary, with a second consecutive appearance in the knock-out round and incredibleteamwork and fortitude against four formidable opponents.

Only one thing mars my enjoyment of watching the World Cup, and it's the absence of one smallword. Just a tiny qualifier in a statistic that really should be corrected as our men's team continuesto gain respect internationally. So I ask the American commentators, please stop announcing thatLandon Donovan is the "all-time U.S. leading goal scorer." He is not. With 57 international goals,he's not even in the Top Five.

The all-time U.S. leading goal scorer is Abby Wambach, with 167 goals, followed by Mia Hamm(158), Kristine Lilly (130), Michelle Akers (105) and Tiffeny Milbrett (100). In fact, Abby Wambach isthe all-time leading goal scorer in the world, among all soccer players, male or female.

One could argue that the men's game maybe a lower scoring game than the women's,with 12 women having 100 or moreinternational goals and only one man (Iran'sAli Daei), or perhaps women's soccercareers simply last longer, allowing them toplay more games on the international stage.After all, the U.S. Women's National Teamgenerally goes a lot farther in the Olympicsand the World Cup than our men do, andmany of their games end in penalty kicks, soof course they would have moreopportunities to put points on the board. For a more direct comparison of the statistics, however,consider this: four current or past members of the U.S. Women's National Team are among the top10 goal scorers in the world (including #1 and #2), whereas our highest scoring male player is #20.

I don't want to take anything away fromwhat Landon Donovan has achieved. It iscommendable. But every time he sits there,silently allowing that phrase to be rattled off-- "all-time leading U.S. goal scorer" --without pointing out that he is the all-timeleading men's goal scorer, it does take awayfrom what Abby Wambach and Mia Hammhave achieved -- total world domination.

In sports like tennis and gymnastics, wherethe U.S. women clearly outstrip their malecounterparts, no one talks about the men's statistics without that clarifier. Why is soccer different?Why are almost all other sports different? Why do people consistently claim that Mike Krzyzewski isthe winningest coach in college basketball when he is still 115 wins behind Pat Summit, with asignificantly lower win percentage (his .763 to her .841)? How hard would it be to simply slip theword "men's" into the conversation, if nothing else, in the interest of accuracy?

The issue of establishing women's achievements as "women's" but allowing the male position to bethe assumed baseline goes far beyond sports. When Sonia Sotomayor was being confirmed for theSupreme Court, members of Congress repeatedly asked her (repeatedly) if, as a Latina, she would beable to remain neutral. I don't recall ever in the history of confirmation hearings, anyone asking, "Asa white male, do you think you'll be able to remain neutral when deciding issues of law?" Given somerecent decisions, maybe they should have!

We have to stop assuming that the male position is objective, unbiased, nonpartisan, with no need tobe qualified as male. All one has to do is notice that the (mostly) rich, white men in charge have done

nothing to punish the (entirely) rich, white men who crashed our economy -- and in fact, took stepsto ensure that their financial advantages be maintained -- to see that men are anything but objectivewhen it comes to assessing the achievements and crimes of other men, who happen to look exactlylike them.

I see it consistently in social media, particularly on LinkedIn, a business-focused site where men aremore active in discussions than on other sites. They will state their views and opinions as absolutefact, ignoring the reality that they are only expressing the male opinion. This came up in a recentinteraction where some people were talking about how to solve a serious workplace problem and Isuggested a group meeting, where it could be addressed most efficiently, with consensus among allinvolved.

One respondent replied: "No one in the workplace wants more meetings! Absolutely no one! Whenyou suggest holding more meetings, it negates every other thing that comes out of your mouth."Hmm...it negates every other thing I say. Nope, no hyperbole there.

I pointed out to the commenter that just because he doesn't believe a meeting can solve theproblem, it doesn't mean no one does. In fact, across all studies, it has been proven that women inthe workplace prefer more open communication and collaboration and that this leads to betterresults for companies. He then told me I was dead wrong and left the conversation.

All of these things are related. The man who insiststhat "no one wants meetings!" and the Congressmanwho asks Justice Sotomayor if she can be neutral (as ifhe is) and the sportscaster who fails to accuratelystate that Landon Donovan is the all-time leading U.S.men's scorer are all saying the same thing -- we arethe baseline, and the rest of the world has to conformto us.

It starts with the language we speak. If we are alwaysgoing to refer to women in the corporate world as "thefemale CEO of such-and-such company," then we haveto say, "the male CEO." Who knows, maybe with thatdescriptor, the markets will become aware of how

often men fail, and stop seeing manhood as a requirement for the job.

The male position is not the neutral position. It has a point of view, the male point of view, which noteveryone shares, and which is not always superior. Either clarify everyone or clarify no one,otherwise it sends the message that one group is the norm and the other is a deviation, even when"the other" is more successful in the field.

And next time someone on national TV refers to Landon Donovan as the all-time leading goal scorerfor the U.S., it would be great if he displayed some of the dignity and grace we know he possessesand say, "All-time leading men's scorer. There are seven U.S. women higher on the list than me."

This article originally appeared on WomenNetwork.com. Republished with permission.

Valerie Alexander is the author of Happiness as a SecondLanguage, a #1 Seller on Amazon in both the Happinessand Self-Help categories. You can join the Speak Happinesscommunity now to get two free workbooks, "One Day ofFluent Happiness" and "How to Find Happiness in theWorkplace Every Day."

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