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Jeff Carlisle, US soccer reporter
CHICAGO — U.S. women’s national team midfielder Megan Rapinoe said her accomplishments off the field have a more profound impact “by a mile” than what she has achieved on the field.
Rapinoe, 38, will play her final game for the USWNT on Sunday in a friendly against South Africa at Soldier Field. He would finish with 203 international appearances and at least 63 goals for the U.S. During that time, he was part of two teams that won the World Cup — in 2015 and 2019 — as well as one that claimed the gold. medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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But Rapinoe is also a strong advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and racial equality. And she spearheaded the ultimately successful push to achieve equal pay for their US male counterparts at the international level.
“I think, yeah, by and a mile, what we’ve done off the field, I think that has made such a lasting impact,” he said during his last pre-match press conference for the USWNT on Saturday.
“I actually talked to Becky [Sauerbrunn] on the bus today, and just thinking clearly about where the program has grown and where the federation has grown and where we are pushing the federation to develop the sport as a whole.”
He added: “I think we’ve become a big part of the push, talking about whether it’s gay rights or racial justice or trans rights, more into every conversation around sports, especially around women’s sports. We’re a driver of that and make that as important as what we do on the field. I think we believe it’s just as important.”
Rapinoe says using her platform to promote social justice causes is more of an evolution than the result of a particular moment. But he acknowledged that the increased profile the team enjoyed after the 2011 Women’s World Cup, as well as his own decision to come out as gay, was the defining change.
“I think my experience going out and after the World Cup leading up to the Olympics was a big one, and the reaction I got, whether it was people coming up to me and saying how important it was to them, or this. They were given a place to go out,” he said.
“I think I realized immediately as the popularity of the team began to grow, that people came to see us, not only for what we do on the field, but they came to see themselves in us. And so how How do we use that? How can we use that growing platform to fight for ourselves but also fight for other people?”
That 2011 Women’s World Cup saw Rapinoe’s now-famous cross to Abby Wambach to score a last-gasp US equalizer against Brazil in the quarterfinals. Despite losing the final to Japan, that moment propelled Rapinoe and the team into the public eye.
“I think coming home from the first World Cup was a real eye-opening experience,” he said. “When we left, I think there were about 7,000 people in [New Jersey’s] Red Bull [Arena] and when we came back after not winning the World Cup, in all the morning shows and realized that the game has changed a lot for everyone in this country for women’s soccer. So it’s a combination, kind of an evolution, but if I had to focus on one thing, it would probably be the cross.
While Rapinoe acknowledges that she’s made mistakes in her career, Rapinoe says she has no regrets about anything she’s done.
“I feel like I got the best of my career,” he said. “I feel like I’m doing my best and expanding my talent and my kind of gifts. I’m having a lot of fun. I’m having fun and celebrating along the way. I think that’s probably why I feel at peace. . . . I don’t think I did everything right, but I did everything the way I wanted to and I feel like I really got this career that I could have.”
Rapinoe became emotional, shedding some tears when questions turned to the relationships with her teammates, especially US and Portland Thorns defender Sauerbrunn, whom Rapinoe has known since they were 16.
“We spend more time here than we do with our family or our partners, our loved ones. So it’s really special when you find people in this environment that you click with,” Rapinoe said.
The veteran added that the expression of happiness, inside and outside the field, is part of his legacy, and can even be seen as a form of resistance to the restrictions that some parts of the public want to put on him.
“I think a lot of times my happiness, or expressions of happiness are completely an act of resistance or a big glowing kind of middle finger to everybody,” he said. “This is my life, and this is my career and I can do what I want to do with it. And we can express ourselves the way we want to express ourselves. I think the team not only has the right to do that, but earned that right to do that.
“And I think it’s something that’s always been a secret weapon for this group to show up and be serious and be a certain way when we need to be. But it’s also a game, and we know that we are lucky. to play it, and we will take everything from it as much as we can. We will celebrate the moments that we feel we deserve that celebration, even if we win only one game or we win all the item or moved to the next round of a tournament.
“I don’t think you can go back and enjoy any moments. So [if] you don’t do it now, nothing more. And I think that’s something that we, as older players, try to pass on to the younger players as well.
As she prepares to leave, Rapinoe insists there are brighter days ahead for the USWNT, despite the team’s round of 16 exit from this year’s Women’s World Cup. Nobody knew who he was when the USWNT was the domain of Wambach and others, he said. And now that it’s her turn to move on, Rapinoe is confident the team is in equally good hands.
“I’m really excited for them. This team has a lot of talent and potential and are just great kids,” he said. “Obviously going through the World Cup this year was not the results we wanted, but I feel that what I have seen in terms of attitude and work ethic and the growing culture of the team is amazing. Everyone wants to be the best and everything. want to be out there and give what they can to the team.”