PARIS -- This weekend is a big game for the women's national team, as they will take on Chile this Sunday.
And the odds are looking to be in favor of the United States team. There is a 90% chance the U.S. will win.
Chile is ranked 39th. To put that in perspective, Thailand -- who lost spectacularly against the U.S. on Tuesday -- was ranked 34th. The U.S. team is ranked #1.
And it's that win against Thailand that now has U.S. players defending themselves against criticism they ran up the score too much in the 13-0 win.
Much of the criticism is centered on the team's animated celebrations on the field, before the match ended.
"I think our only crime was an explosion of joy last night. If our crime is joy, then we'll take that," says co-captain Megan Rapinoe.
"You don't apologize for being good. Not everybody gets a trophy, and we keep score for a reason. This is not youth soccer. The U.S. is here to win a World Cup,” says former U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year Alexi Lalas.
Later in the tournament, if there's a tie, the total number of goals scored can make all the difference -- being a key factor on who moves on to the next round. However, the U.S. women's team has never lost the second match in the group stage, and Chile, their next opponent, has lost their last 10 matches.
You can catch all the World Cup coverage as the U.S. defends their title on Fox 4. Coverage of Sunday’s game begins at 11am, and the match begins at noon.
