Megan Rapinoe, a unique soccer player on and off the field, hung up her boots this Saturday. She did it in San Diego, at the age of 38, in the final of the American league, the NWSL, defending the colors of her team, OL Reign from Seattle, against Gotham FC from New Jersey. Her career has been full of glory, but in the end her destiny has played a couple of tricks on her. In her last official match with the national team she missed the decisive penalty that eliminated the United States from the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. In her last club game, this Saturday, she was injured stupidly two minutes into the game and could no longer continue playing. In the end, her team fell 1-2 against Gotham coached by the Spanish Juan Carlos Amorós and with the Spanish Maitane López and Esther González in her ranks.
After being injured, Rapinoe laughed nervously on the grass. She couldn’t believe what was happening to her. The match had only just begun. She had already made a pass from the outside that almost ended in a goal. But in the 2.25 minute, when Gotham took the ball from behind, Rapinoe slipped while going to press and injured herself. The legendary player was left lying down while the assists arrived, but she put her hand on her ankle and she was aware that she was not going to be able to continue. The public at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego said goodbye to her with a standing ovation, but also with some disappointment.
The American star watched the final from the bench. From there she saw how Lynn Williams scored in the 24th minute after a great run on the right by Margaret Purce, thus putting Gotham ahead. Rosa Lavelle equalized for OL Reign five minutes later in a quick attack, taking advantage of the hole left by the rival centre-backs. In first-half stoppage time, Esther González scored with a header from the center of the area after a corner kick taken by Purce, in what ended up being the decisive goal. Veronica Latsko missed a one-on-one in the 60th minute that would have tied the game after another Gotham defensive breakdown. A lunge from goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn saved the team from her.
Latsko had another opportunity almost into an empty net in stoppage time in a controversial play at the time limit. Goalkeeper McGlynn had touched with her hand outside the area, Latsko took a shot and the ball went wide. After the VAR review of the play, the goalkeeper was sent off and OL Reign had a foul on the edge of the area with a Gotham field player under the sticks.
The champion title is a success for the Spaniard Juan Carlos Amorós, who a few days ago was recognized as the best coach of the year in the NWSL. Amorós began his career as a women’s soccer coach at the English club Tottenham Hotspur and went through Betis in the 2021-2022 season before starting his American adventure. After leading the Houston Dash to its first participation in the playoffs As interim coach last year, Amorós signed a three-year contract with Gotham FC in November 2022. He came to a team that had been last in the NWSL last year with 17 losses in 22 games and made them champions.
At the same time as Rapinoe, Gotham said goodbye to another player who has marked an era in American women’s soccer, center Ali Krieger, 39, with a great track record in the national team and in the clubs she has played for, but at the that he also needed to win the NWSL.
Proud and smiling
At the press conference the day before, Rapinoe had pointed out that she could leave smiling and proud throughout her career. “I have always tried to play the right way, I have always tried to enjoy it. At the end of the day, I think we are in the entertainment business and, especially in a growing sport and league, I think that is very important,” she noted. “I have always tried to improve things, and I am very proud and happy, not only for my contribution to the sport, but for the time in which I have played. “I know that football is in a better place, and that is a credit to all the players who have been part of this generation and have played in this league, some of us with the national team,” she added. “This year the league has been crazy, it has been a lot of fun to watch and be a part of, with all the stories, so I feel like I can leave smiling no matter what happens and very proud of my entire career.”
The player born in Redding (California) has had a shorter record in her club career than with the national team. In 2013 she won the French league and cup with Olympique Lyonnais, but failed to win the Champions League. In Seattle, where she has been playing for the last 10 years, the team has been first in the regular league three times, but the first two times they lost the title in the 2014 and 2015 finals against FC Kansas City and the third time they lost in the semifinals . This Saturday was her last chance to be NWSL champion.
With the American team, meanwhile, she won gold in the 2012 Olympic Games, was runner-up in the 2011 World Cup (after losing the final on penalties) and won the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. In the latter she was the top scorer, the best player in the tournament as a whole and in three of the matches she played, including the final. Rapinoe then became the global image of her sport, especially with the iconic image of celebrating a goal in the final with her arms outstretched and her lilac hair. She was chosen the Best Player of 2019 by FIFA and received the Ballon d’Or, being the first soccer player in history to achieve both awards.
Off-field footprint
Transcending her successes on the field, Rapinoe leaves an even greater mark for her rebellion and personal commitment, which elevates her above other brilliant players of her generation. She has been a tireless activist in favor of minorities and equality and recognition of women’s football. In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor. Before, she had been at odds with her predecessor, Donald Trump.
She was one of 28 players who sued the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) in 2019 for discrimination in a Los Angeles court, demanding equal pay with the men’s team. As a result of that demand, the American Federation announced in May 2022 separate agreements with the associations of soccer players of both sexes so that the men’s and women’s teams would earn the same amount.
He gained national attention for kneeling during the national anthem at an international game in September 2016 in solidarity with NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who had initiated the gesture as a protest against racism and discrimination.
Rapinoe has also been an activist and defender of LGBT rights. In 2012, weeks before the London Olympics, Rapinoe publicly revealed that she was lesbian in an interview with the magazine Out, in which he indicated that he had been in a relationship with Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh since 2009. After almost five years together, they broke up their relationship in 2013. Then, Rapinoe and the artist Sera Cahoone announced their wedding in August 2015, but they ended up breaking off their engagement. Subsequently, he began a new relationship with basketball player Sue Bird, a five-time Olympic champion with the United States basketball team, who was in a box in San Diego this Saturday.
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