The USMNT will play their biggest game of the World Cup in terms of casual fan interest on Friday as they take on England in group play, a game that’s been circled on calendars since the draw put the two squads in the same group.
After getting just a draw against Wales despite dominating action for much of the game, the U.S. could really use a result against England to have the best chance of advancing, which isn’t the ideal scenario considering the Three Lions come in looking very dangerous after a 6-2 win over Iran and are heavily favored (-205 to win) over the Americans. Securing a point by way of a draw would be huge, particularly after Iran beat Wales, setting up a scenario where beating Iran on Tuesday will be a must if the U.S. is to advance almost no matter the result against England.
All of that serves as the backdrop for Friday, where there’s not an awful lot of need for forced efforts to hype up the game, but that didn’t stop the USMNT’s Twitter account from sending out a painfully cringey tweet attempting to draw a retweet from Taylor Swift — one of many tweets the account sent to various celebrities on Friday morning.
.@taylorswift13 we know you love your London Boy… but we’re gonna do our best to make Miss Americana proud today
pic.twitter.com/q1kCDxbm4E
— U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (@USMNT) November 25, 2022
This is the type of tweet you’d expect from a stan account desperate for some acknowledgement from their favorite artist, not the official Twitter account of the USMNT. On top of that, they couldn’t even manage to make a reference to anything off of her most recent album. With American soccer fans already on edge about their chances against England, this tweet did little to raise their confidence and many fans have decided that if the team loses they can blame this pitiful effort at some Twitter engagement for their misfortune.
I can’t believe this is from an official account
— Jack G (@jguugs) November 25, 2022
delete this pic.twitter.com/9TnpKiwx25
— bobby (@bobby) November 25, 2022
we are cooked
— fraser ramon (@SteveMerkle9) November 25, 2022
oh baby we are COOKED
— Ande Wall (@AndeWall) November 25, 2022
— Tyler (Tippecanoe not included) (@TStove7) November 25, 2022
Maybe they’re just trying to take some heat off the squad, because if the team gets rolled by England plenty of folks will just retweet this and blame the account rather than the players in a game they’re favored to lose. That’s the most charitable reading of an otherwise desperate attempt at a little engagement.