Team USA called in the big guns before their clash against rival Canada, bringing the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden into the clubhouse for a pre-game pep talk.
Robert J. O’Neill, a decorated veteran of the elite SEAL Team Six, addressed the roster at Daikin Park ahead of their World Baseball Classic quarterfinal.
The speech appeared to do the trick as the Americans secured a 5-3 win.
O’Neill, who claims to have fired the fatal shots during the 2011 raid in Pakistan, shared a lighter moment from the mission that drew roars of laughter from the players.
The veteran recounted the chaos of the Bin Laden raid, specifically the confusion surrounding a stealth Black Hawk helicopter that crash-landed in the courtyard.
He admitted he was so focused on the mission that he didn’t realize his own team had crashed, initially mistaking the wreckage for a training model used by the residents.
Team USA were given a pre-game pep talk by Robert J. O’Neill, who claims to have fired the fatal shots that killed Osama bin Laden, before their game against Canada
Former Navy SEAL and Valor Award honoree Robert J. O’Neill is pictured in 2015
The comedic misunderstanding was cleared up when his superior bluntly informed him that the ‘training mock-up’ was actually their own downed aircraft.
‘Knock ‘Em Dead Tonight Boys,’ O’Neill later posted on social media, sharing his pride in the team’s clinical performance against the ‘Great White North.’
The levity provided a brief respite before the battle on the diamond, which saw the USA jump to a dominant 5-0 lead behind a stellar start from pitcher Logan Webb.
However, the choice of speaker didn’t sit well with everyone, as critics took to X to brand the locker room ceremony as ‘weirdly chauvinistic’ and ‘overly militarized.’
The intense approach mirrors the team’s ‘business-only’ attitude this year, punctuated by catcher Cal Raleigh recently declining a handshake from a rival star.
Despite the social media backlash, the results on the field have been undeniable as the USA completed a historic ‘triple’ over Canada in the space of a month.
The win follows the double-gold sweep in hockey at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where both the American men and women sank Canada in overtime.
‘It would be great to avenge it,’ Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt had declared before the game, hoping to soothe the sting of those losses on the ice.
The USA beat Canada in the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic on Friday night
USA captain Aaron Judge looks on before his at-bat during the seventh inning at Daikin Park
Team Canada and Seattle Mariners slugger Josh Naylor looks on before the quarterfinals
Even after Canada’s stars practiced in hockey jerseys to channel their national spirit, they found themselves staring down a five-run deficit by the fourth inning.
Bo Naylor eventually sparked hope with a massive two-run home run in the sixth, but the Canadian rally was ultimately silenced by reliever David Bednar.
Bednar produced an ‘incredible escape act’ in the seventh, stranding the tying runs on base to protect the lead and dash Canada’s hopes of a historic upset.
The victory means the USA moves on to a heavyweight semifinal clash in Miami against the Dominican Republic, who recently demolished South Korea.
