Megan Rapinoe finished her U.S. womenโs national soccer team career with two Womenโs World Cup championships, three CONCACAF womenโs championships and an Olympic gold medal.
Rapinoe and the U.S. team fell short of a third consecutive championship earlier this month as the team was eliminated in the Round of 16. She looked back on her time with the U.S. team fondly in a recent interview with The Atlantic and addressed the criticism she and the rest of her teammates received for not singing the national anthem before the start of their matches.Rapinoe said she loved representing the U.S. on the international stage despite detractors and is going to miss that, along with the energy in stadiums.
“And Iโll miss being able to represent our country. I think, a lot of times, that gets lost, when people talk about me in particular: โOh, you guys donโt sing the anthem, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You donโt love America.โ But we do love America,” she said. “Itโs just more in a James Baldwin kind of way, not in a bald-eagle-on-your-shoulder kind of way.”I look back and feel so lucky and so grateful to have had the career that I have had, for as long as I have had it. Itโll be something that I will miss forever. I donโt think Iโll ever not want to play in the biggest games, but Iโll be the biggest fan. Iโll be a fan at the next World Cup, for sure.”
The next step for Rapinoe is to finish out the National Womenโs Soccer League season with OL Reign.
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