The U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) lost 0–0 to Sweden in penalties on Sunday. After double overtime, the game went to a shoot-out, where the U.S. had opportunities to end the match. As was the case throughout regulation, the women couldn’t get the job done when things got close — despite magisterial effort and shot prediction from U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. After seven penalty shots, the Norsewomen put the match away with a shot deflection that snuck across the line before Naeher could completely reject the offending orb.
Just like that, the former world champions and serial favorites were out in the Round of 16. Ah well. Those who follow women’s soccer know that the rest of the world has been improving their programs, and that it was a matter of time before some semblance of parity would arrive for a sport that has traditionally been dominated by a handful of Western democracies, if for no other reason than that we have healthy, tall, wealthy women who are free to pursue soccer full-time — in the U.S. most of all. But other programs caught up while the U.S. women’s side has spent most of their time championing progressive causes and suing for “equal pay” instead of practicing. Worse yet, the team has humored aging players and granted these figureheads minutes they don’t deserve.
Megan Rapinoe is one such washed-up player. Further, she’s a player with a duffel’s worth of political baggage and a brash progressive delivery that makes her a hate totem for the Right. She’s a parody of the gender-studies professor we imagine infests every college — but now she’s real and taking penalty kicks (chewing the scenery whether she makes it or misses) while refusing to sing the national anthem.
I can’t support a foreign team over Americans, but there’s no point in chastising others for cheering against the U.S. women — there are also people who cheer for the Care Bears to lose. While Rapinoe looks like she has the pelt of one such bear cut in a pixie style, the story here is that Rapinoe is washed up and the greatest gift she could have given her team was announcing her retirement five years ago. Regardless of knowledgeable viewers’ protestations, there she was with the chance to put the match almost out of reach, and she botches the kick — which came minutes after failing to wrangle a deflection in overtime that would have been nigh insurmountable for Sweden. How frustrating.
Megan Rapinoe’s career should end here. The team has suffered her ego, her inability to change matches for the better, and her forcing them into awkward positions for far too long. Rapinoe made her money more from making her team divisive losers than she has from winning . . . She’s unique in this respect, I’m sure.
The USWNT deserves the lumps it’ll receive for an avoidable loss and its failure to manage its players. But that’s too bad because, if it weren’t for a singularly loathsome player suiting up and flopping, we could call the match what it was: hard-fought and thrilling, even if it wasn’t the result we (maybe) hoped for.