COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Thursday nights game between the United States and Thailand was a great many things. Heck, it was a lot of things before the actual game was five minutes old.The first mile on the road to France and the 2019 World Cup?Not so much. On a night when the United States beat Thailand 9-0, when Carli Lloyd tallied three goals and four assists, the game was about two people. And Lloyd wasnt one of them.One was celebrated as she stood alone in a national team uniform for the final time.One was watched as she knelt on the ground, surrounded but solitary, before the game.Thursday was about Heather OReilly becoming part of the teams past after her final game and Megan Rapinoe stoking controversy in the present by kneeling during The Star-Spangled Banner for the first time while wearing a national team uniform.Neither has much to do with what happens across the Atlantic Ocean in three years.The most important thing for me is Heather OReilly having a fitting send-off game, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said. That was the most important thing, in terms of with the team internally, externally, what we tried to do and how we honored her. That was the priority.On a different night, really any other night, OReilly would have had the spotlight to herself. This was the antithesis of that laborious game in New Orleans last December when the United States tried and tried to send off Abby Wambach with a goal and instead lost to China.In the minutes before the game, OReilly blasted the ball into the top of the goal during a shooting drill. Starting and wearing the captains armband in the last of her 231 appearances for the national team, OReilly appeared more than ready to go out as more than a ceremonial figure.Less than 60 seconds into the game, she got to the end line and delivered a cross -- of course she did -- that Lloyd finished for the opening goal. For someone with more assists than all but five women in the teams history, it was a fitting way to exit. Except OReilly wasnt done. In the fifth minute, Christen Press having already extended the lead to two goals in the intervening seconds, Lloyd returned the favor and set up OReilly for her first international goal in nearly a year. She nearly poached another goal, chasing a Tobin Heath goal into the net, relentless effort that in its own way summed up the player.Even a final act that Ellis made sound like something of an audible proved perfect. When the United States made its sixth and final substitution in the second half and OReilly stayed on the field, it seemed she wouldnt get the typical farewell curtain call. But with only a handful of minutes remaining, Ellis got approval from the referees to make a unique move.Up went the fourth officials electronic board with OReillys No. 9 as the departing player. But where the number of her replacement would have been, there was nothing. OReilly walked off alone, and the United States played the final minutes with 10 players on the field.I thought it was just fitting that she get a standing ovation, a moment to herself in this game, Ellis said. I just felt she needed that singular moment to be acknowledged and recognized by everyone.Left unsaid was that it was a night when singular moments were difficult to come by. OReilly was honored on the field before the game in a ceremony that included Mia Hamm, a fellow North Carolina Tar Heel and former national teammate when OReilly first appeared as a high schooler. But that felt like prelude to the national anthem that followed. After saying Wednesday that she wasnt sure if she would stand or kneel, Rapinoe made her choice.If you hadnt been looking, you might not even have noticed her flanked by the other bench players who remained standing. But, of course, everyone was looking. The day after a police shooting in Columbus in which a 13-year-old African-American boy was killed after reportedly pulling what proved to be a realistic looking BB gun from his waistband, Rapinoe knelt.I never felt like it was wrong in the first place, Rapinoe said of her decision. I never felt it was disrespectful. I felt very convicted in Chicago that night when I took that knee for the first time. And I think that Ive been trying to figure out a way to make everybody happy. Thats not possible. I truly believe in what Im doing and the things that Im saying and the need for this conversation to happen, especially in light of what happened last night in this city.I think, ultimately, I know I can sleep at night with the decision that I made.What some people heard as a single voice shouting Stand up Pinoe was the only audible response, although it later sounded as if some boos greeted Rapinoe when she took the field in the second half.Ellis made clear the day before the game her belief that national team duty conveys a responsibility to stand for the anthem. In a statement released during the game, U.S. Soccer expressed an almost identical stance. But Rapinoe said no one asked her to stand for the anthem and the statement made no mention of potential sanctions. Ellis, too, said she didnt consider not playing Rapinoe. But she also left room to suggest that isnt permanent.I think for me and who I am, Ive given this a lot of thought and a lot of contemplation, Ellis said. And I think tonight I was not going to get caught up in an emotional response in the moment. Im pretty measured in everything I do, and certainly even to the game plan was measured in minutes and that was factored in, including Megan. I think thats just how I am.Now its continued conversations and thoughts on my part and probably with the federation.It took until now to even mention that the United States played the game without Hope Solo in goal, a situation that will be so for at least the next six months. Then again, it took until the 34th minute for the crowd to get a chance to cheer starting goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris in her first appearance for the national team in more than a year, when a teammate played a ball back to her. But for a second-half sequence in which Thailand nearly scored a goal, replays suggesting Kelley OHaras goal-line clearance was either perfect timing or an advertisement for goal-line technology, the defensive half of the field was an afterthought for the Americans.Of course, except for those that involved OReilly, the nine goals they scored at the other end were ultimately an afterthought, too. With apologies to Lloyds haul, history will not long remember the final score of the game. It might well remember the rest of the night.This is supposed to be the doldrums of womens international soccer for North American teams. The United States wont play another meaningful game until 2018. But when nine goals and Solos absence dont even make the top of the page, these are interesting times.So it was left to OReilly, who half-jokingly confirmed she was still sure about international retirement in the wake of such a strong performance, to offer her final words as a member of the national team not about the celebration but the latest controversy.She did talk to the team, that she was thinking about doing that, OReilly said of Rapinoe. And we know, obviously, why she is doing that -- because she loves this country and she wants to see change and thats how she feels, in her heart, that shes demonstrating it.We will eventually start down the road to France. It just didnt happen Thursday night.Giovanni Fiore Ducks Jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Hampus Lindholm Ducks Jersey . 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Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods.On December 5, the Supreme Court of India will reconvene to address the long-standing impasse between the BCCI and the Lodha Committee. Since July 18, when it approved a majority of the recommendations proposed by the Lodha Committee for best practices in the BCCI and its state associations, the court has directed the Indian board to implement them. The BCCI, though, has steadily resisted implementing most of the recommendations.Despite finding substance in the Lodha Committees claim of the BCCIs intransigence, the court opted to exercise patience. It reserved its order on superseding the BCCIs office bearers with a panel of administrators, as was recommended by the committee in September.Instead, the court gave the BCCI time to prove it would convince the states to adopt the approved recommendations in total. But at three meetings conducted by the BCCI since October, including two special general meetings (SGMs), the state associations remained steadfast in their defiance of certain recommendations.Consequently, the Lodha Committee, in its latest status report, asked the court for the second time to remove all ineligible office bearers at the BCCI and state levels, and to appoint an observer to oversee the boards business deals.Click here for the key points of the case till October. The following is a synopsis of the hearings since then, and the key questions before the court when it reconvenes on Monday.What did the court state in its previous order?On October 21, the court passed an interim order asking the BCCI to cease and desist from disbursing funds to state associations until the association gave a written resolution that it would adopt all the recommendations approved by the court.The court also asked BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke to meet the Lodha committee within two weeks from the date of that order and submit an affidavit of compliance, elaborating on the recommendations already implemented by the BCCI and what it had done to persuade the state associations to adopt the remaining recommendations.Have the states submitted written undertakings? Only the Hyderabad Cricket Association submitted an undertaking to the Lodha Committee, saying it would comply with the July 18 court order without any reservations.What about Thakur and Shirkes affidavit of compliance?On November 5, Thakur submitted a report to the committee stating that 30 state associations had rejected adopting the recommendations in total, and instead had wanted to vote for and against each one at the boards SGM on October 1. Thakur said he was rendered incapable despite being armed with the court order and could not force the recommendations on the members who said any amendment to the BCCI constitution required a three-fourth majority by vote.On October 15, at an informal meeting of the board, Shirke reminded the members that not complying with the court order would have consequences. According to Thakur, the members still stuck to the decision taken at the October 1 SGM. At its latest meeting, on December 2, the BCCI said the members had reiterated their stance of not adopting the recommendations in total, and woould wait for the courts observations on December 5.ddddddddddddWhat were the immediate consequences for the BCCI and the state associations? Having understood the BCCI would not adhere to the court order, the Lodha Committee played hardball as well. It did not appoint an auditor to oversee BCCI contracts, as directed by the court on October 21, or specify the threshold limit for various contractual agreements entered into by the board, thereby limiting its operational freedom. The court had said that any contracts exceeding the threshold limit would need to be approved by the committee.The board, therefore, was unable to release funds to the states ahead of the ongoing home Test series against England. It had to approach the court, which said INR 58.66 lakh (USD 86,000 approx) could be disbursed to each of the five state associations hosting the England series.While the BCCI has been defiant in public, some of its senior office bearers and officials are worried the image of the board has taken a hit, especially after the tender for IPL broadcasting and media rights for the next cycle starting in 2018 was postponed indefinitely because the committee had not appointed an auditor or specified a threshold limit. The IPL rights bids were to be opened on October 25.What has the Lodha Committee said in its latest status report?On November 18, the committee submitted its third status report on the BCCIs response to the July 18 court order. It said that the office bearers of both the BCCI and the states who fall foul of the eligibility norms - as per the recommendations - should be removed with immediate effect. The committee also suggested that GK Pillai, the former home secretary in the federal government, be appointed an observer of the BCCI and that he oversee the financial transactions of the board.Is there anything else that the court needs to decide on? There is one other issue, concerning Thakurs alleged request to the ICC for a letter questioning whether the appointment of a comptroller and auditor general official on the proposed Apex Council amounted to government interference in the BCCI. The ICC does not permit government interference in member boards, and members can be suspended if such interference is allowed. In such a scenario, the BCCI might have used the threat of Indias suspension by the ICC as valid grounds to strike down that particular recommendation.ICC chief executive David Richardson had said Thakur had wanted such a letter. Richardson said Thakur had verbally asked for a letter and ICC chairman Shashank Manohar turned down the request, saying the BCCI needed to put it down in writing first. Thakur submitted an affidavit on October 17 denying the charge.In its October 21 order, the court said prima facie that it was clear Thakur had asked Manohar for a letter, a matter of serious concern. It asked the Lodha Committee to write to Manohar asking for an affidavit to set the record straight. On December 5, the committee will reveal the contents of the affidavit in court. ' ' '