John Riordan: Throwing mud from the safe side of the fence

When the width of a post saved the current squad in injury time against Portugal on Tuesday, the shock of a near exit created something akin to paralysis among Carli Lloyd and her fellow observers.

THROWING MUD: Former US football player Carli Lloyd poses with the Women's World Cup trophy during a trophy promotion event in Wellington. Pic: MELVILLE/AFP via Getty Images

There has been a lot of entertaining discussion around the concept of codebreaking across the US sports scene.

For those of us low-life unathletic slobs, here is the law of the land: there is a code between professional sportspeople past and present and if you break it, it’s difficult to fix. Don’t question and don’t criticise, especially if it’s for personal gain.