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NICE, France — How do you come back from the worst defeat in World Cup history?
For Thailand, which lost to the United States by a harrowing- to-witness 13-0 in its first group-stage match last Tuesday, a kind of vindication came in the 90th minute of its second match, against Sweden, on Sunday.
True, Sweden dominated from the beginning. True, Thailand was losing at the time, and would lose in the end. True, the prevailing mood at the Stade de Nice, even taking into account the joy of the Swedish traveling fans, was one of general anxiety, the sort of inchoate fear that comes when you think you are about to witness a slow-motion car accident.