Former Canada international Kaylyn Kyle says she has received death threats after calling the United States "disrespectful and disgraceful" for their celebrations in their 13-0 mauling of Thailand.
Alex Morgan scored five times as USA recorded the biggest win in Women's World Cup history in Reims on Tuesday, but the manner of its one-sided victory drew flak on social media, with American players criticised for over-celebrating their rampant humiliation of inferior opposition.
Kyle was one of three Canadians appearing as pundits on TSN to have blasted the defending world champions.
"I'm all about passion and I think as a Canadian we would never think about doing something like that," said Kyle.
"We've played against the Americans before and you've got a player like [Canada captain] Christine Sinclair scoring a hat-trick and she would never even think about counting out how many goals she has on one hand.
"For me, it's disrespectful and disgraceful. Hats off to Thailand for holding their heads high, their first time on a World Cup stage, I'd love to just be there to hug them all."
Kyle, who made 101 appearances for Canada before retiring in 2017, later claimed to have been sent death threats in the wake of those comments and took to Twitter to clarify what she meant.
"I never once said to never score as many goals as you can in a World Cup!!! PLEASE WATCH FULL SEGMENT," Kyle wrote.
"I said the exact opposite IT'S THE WORLD CUP!!! You score as many as you can and don't take the foot off the gas pedal!
"I did say I thought it was excessive and disrespectful the goal celebrations of the American team once the score hit 8-0. Everyone is allowed there [sic] opinions towards my thoughts 100 per cent but please leave the death threats!"
Ex-USA international Abby Wambach has defended her former team-mates, insisting they "should be excited" to score at a World Cup, but Kyle's fellow TSN pundits Clare Rustad and Diana Matheson felt Jill Ellis' side crossed a line.
"I understand there's a goal differential race in this tournament and I understand they're nervous about drawing Sweden later in the tournament," said former Canada player Rustad.
"But this was disgraceful from the United States. I hope they could have won with humility and grace but celebrating goals eight, nine and 10 the way they were doing was really unnecessary."
Matheson, who has represented Canada over 200 times, added: "The US is fully capable of blowing out teams and of course at the World Cup you're not going to hold back.
"Maybe they have an internal target they want to meet or are trying to break the record, but 'embarrassed' is the word for Jill Ellis and the way she was leading her team in this one."
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