As the agonizing replay kept showing the USWNT would be ending their quest for an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup title I found myself strangely happy that this group of arrogant, unpatriotic, ungrateful soccer players had lost.
Strange because this women's team is one I rooted for passionately since Brandi Chastain and her teammates won a first World Cup almost a generation ago. They were fun to watch, seemed honored to represent their country and made no annoying political statements. In short, they played soccer. And did it with an elegance and grace. Oh yeah, and a dose of toughness tossed in for good measure.
Like most things in the past 24 years, the USWNT changed dramatically. Not all at once and not for quite some time. But, most assuredly they changed. Even two time FIFA Player of the Year Carli Lloyd noticed it. She called this team arrogant and publicly called them out for their celebration after tying Portugal, laughing it up when only moments before a goalpost had stopped heavy underdog Portugal from sending them home in the Group Stage.
Good for Carli. Someone had to. Even then, they continued, following Megan Rapinoe's lead, to not sing our National Anthem nor to place hand over heart. With a couple of exceptions.
This group wasn't about to check their egos at the gates to the stadium and, led by pathetic "leader" Rapinoe, they relentlessy shoved patriotism in our collective faces. First, she complained about not being accepted as an equal because she was a lesbian. After realizing that was a laughable complaint, she began to kneel during our National Anthem. A poor woman's Colin Kaepernick if you will. At least do something original. Then she got around to demanding equal pay. At least that one had some merit, though I can't understand how a team that brings in far less revenue than the men's team could make such a demand. Then it was her social justice warrior stance re the death of uber thug George Floyd.
After winning the World Cup, she showed no respect for our flag, stepping on it in celebration while teammate Kelly O'Hara, understanding the significance of the flag on the ground, raced to pick it up. Rapinoe didn't know, or worse, didn't care. Declining an invitation to the "F ing" White House she lashed out at President Trump as if her words meant something. Then admonished teammates not to go either.
For too long, these Stepford women on this team have blindly followed Rapinoe's arrogant belief that she was important and that she and her team could "change the world" in her words. Please!!!
So I'm happy they got their comeuppance Down Under and that Sweden is advancing. Maybe this spoiled band of athletes will listen to a real leader like Carli Lloyd next time they confuse athletic achievement with activism. Oh, and it was a bonus watching Rapinoe miss her PK that could've won the game. She then laughed about it all the way back to midfield. As former USMNT Captain Steve Pecher said, "If she had done that on my team, I would've lost my mind". The inference being Rapinoe would've received an earful from a true leader. Good riddance to this team and to Rapinoe. Here's hoisting a glass to companies not being as woke as Subway was, only to find sales plummeting after their short lived use of Rapinoe in their ads