Editing Running up the score (section)

===Association football===
In professional [[association football]] or soccer, the concept of "running up the score" is mostly unheard of; many league competitions use [[goal difference]] or goal average as a tiebreaker, meaning there is incentive for a dominant side to win by as wide a margin of victory as possible. Nevertheless, large victory margins have sometimes been criticized in the women's game.

The 2002 World Cup qualification match between Australia and American Samoa ended [[Australia 31–0 American Samoa|31–0]] for the Socceroos, setting a record for the largest victory in an international association football match that still stands today. The vast gulf in quality was known well before the match began, with Australia unhappy at having to play games against small island nations in the Pacific, with this and other lopsided contests contributing towards the reintroduction of a preliminary round for smaller teams in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and eventually the move of Australia out of the Oceanian confederation into the more competitive [[Asian Football Confederation]].

After the [[United States women's national soccer team|U.S. women's team]] defeated [[Thailand women's national football team|Thailand]] 13–0 in the opening round of the [[2019 FIFA Women's World Cup|2019 World Cup]], setting records for both the most goals scored and the largest margin of victory in either World Cup,<ref name="NYT USWNT-Thailand game story">{{cite news|last=Keh|first=Andrew|title=U.S. Takes Apart Thailand and the Record Book at the Women's World Cup|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/sports/uswnt-thailand-score.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 11, 2019|access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref> the team faced accusations that it had run up the score,<ref name="CBS Sports Thailand game story">{{cite news|last=Gonzalez|first=Roger|title=USWNT vs. Thailand score: USA wins 13-0 in the most lopsided game in Women's World Cup history|url=https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/world-cup/news/uswnt-vs-thailand-score-usa-wins-13-0-in-the-most-lopsided-game-in-womens-world-cup-history/|newspaper=[[CBS Sports]]|date=June 12, 2019|access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref> especially since players had celebrated the later goals, including [[Alex Morgan]]'s fifth goal, in the game's 87th minute, as enthusiastically as they had celebrated the earlier ones.<ref name="WashPost Thailand game story">{{cite news|last=Bieler|first=Des|title=Did USWNT players celebrate their goals with too much gusto? World Cup rout sparks debate.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/06/12/did-uswnt-players-celebrate-their-goals-with-too-much-gusto-world-cup-rout-sparks-debate/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 12, 2019|access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref> Critics noted that many of the Thai players had been crying as the game ended.<ref name="NYT USWNT-Thailand game story" /> Former [[Canada women's national soccer team|Canadian international]] [[Clare Rustad]] called the American women's enthusiastic celebrations of their later goals "disgraceful" on [[The Sports Network]], while [[Kate Beirness]] called Morgan's holding up five fingers to celebrate her last goal "just unacceptable".<ref name="WashPost Thailand game story" />

While former U.S. star [[Hope Solo]] defended the outcome—"When you respect your opponent you don't all of a sudden sit back and try not to score"—she admitted that some of the celebrations, particularly those that appeared planned, "seemed a little overboard." She found, in contrast, the postgame embrace [[Carli Lloyd]] offered Thai goalkeeper Chor Charoenying after scoring the final goal in the 92nd minute to be more emblematic of the team's values.<ref name="Hope Solo column">{{cite news|last=Solo|first=Hope|author-link=Hope Solo|title=Scoring 13 against Thailand was great, some of the US celebrations were not|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/12/usa-thailand-womens-world-cup-soccer-celebrations|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=June 12, 2019|access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref>

U.S. coach [[Jill Ellis]] defended her players by noting both the importance of [[Goal difference|goal differential]] in determining seeding for the tournament's elimination rounds and the need to build her team's confidence, as she was able to play some substitutes. "I don't find it my job to harness my players and rein them in, because this is what they’ve dreamed about, and this is a world championship," she told ''[[The New York Times]]''. "When you have a deluge of goals like that, it's important." Her Thai counterpart, [[Nuengruethai Sathongwien]], also defended the American players, who she noted had encouraged her clearly overmatched team to keep their spirits up.<ref name="NYT USWNT-Thailand game story" />

Ellis also suggested that [[sexism]] was at work, wondering if as many questions about the scoring and celebrations would have been raised had a men's team won so dominantly.<ref name="WashPost Thailand game story" /> "Stop judging these women with patriarchal glasses," another former American star, [[Abby Wambach]], [[Twitter|tweeted]]. "You would never say this about a men's team."<ref name="Abby Wambach tweet">{{cite web|last=Wambach|first=Abby|author-link=Abby Wambach|title=With all due respect: did you see @alexmorgan13 last two goals and her last assist?!!! They were world class. And this isn't rec league soccer. This is THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!! Stop judging these women with patriarchal glasses. You would never say this about a men's team. Period.|url=https://twitter.com/AbbyWambach/status/1138559245044125697|website=[[Twitter]]|date=June 11, 2019|access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref> However, former U.S. defender [[Alexi Lalas]], also now a television soccer analyst, said "yes we would". He feared that the celebrations and the goals had cost the U.S. team fans and "sealed themselves as villains" of the Cup.<ref name="Alexi Lalas tweet">{{cite web|last=Lalas|first=Alexi|author-link=Alexi Lalas|title=After beating Thailand 13-0 & celebrating each goal #USWNT may have lost fans, domestically & internationally...and sealed themselves as villains of the @FIFAWWC. I love it. But the soccer gods can be cruel and vindictive. If US goes on to fail, their behavior will be on a loop.|url=https://twitter.com/AlexiLalas/status/1138614528839770115|website=[[Twitter]]|date=June 11, 2019|access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref>

Six days later, when the U.S. team beat [[Chile women's national football team|Chile]] 3–0, the scoring players and their teammates celebrated their goals with hugs, followed by [[Applause#Protocol and variations|golf claps]].<ref name="WashPost US-Chile golf claps story">{{cite news|last=Boren|first=Cindy|title=Carli Lloyd and the U.S. women golf-clap back at critics of their celebrations|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/06/16/carli-lloyd-celebrates-two-world-cup-goals-most-dignified-way-possible/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 16, 2019|access-date=June 17, 2019}}</ref>

[[England 20–0 Latvia|England defeated Latvia 20–0]] in the [[2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D|2023 FIFA World Cup qualifiers]] and were criticized for running up the score. While the English team consisted of full-time professionals, the Latvians were largely amateurs.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wrack |first1=Suzanne |title=Women's football mismatches are happening too often – it is time for action |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2021/dec/01/womens-football-mismatches-are-happening-too-often-it-is-time-for-action-england-latvia |access-date=13 December 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=1 December 2021}}</ref><ref name=EnglandBelgium>{{cite news |last1=Wrack |first1=Suzanne |title='It's not good': Uefa confirms women's qualifying to change after mismatches |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/03/uefa-confirms-womens-football-qualifying-to-change-after-mismatches |access-date=13 December 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 December 2021}}</ref> The mother of one of the Latvian players lamented the "unnecessary humiliation".<ref>{{cite tweet |user=AdamGMillington|number=1466000090066259972|date=1 December 2021|title=This is a really interesting comment from a parent of one of the Latvian players. Have to agree when she says there are a lot of people in the country trying hard to improve women's football – their online media presence for the women's team is incredible. }}</ref> The [[Belgium women's national football team|Belgian team]] had defeated [[Armenia women's national football team|Armenia]] 19–0 in the same qualifying series, and though they did not see similar criticism, [[UEFA]] said both incidents had led to the decision to change its qualifying format so that teams would not encounter those of a vastly different level.<ref name=EnglandBelgium/>