After the highly-favored United States women’s national soccer team lost in penalty kicks, where Sweden won by literally a millimeter and sent the United States packing in their worst World Cup performance ever, the reaction from many fans was actually celebration.
Plenty of Americans, including a few broadcasters, took to social media platforms to announce their justification for celebration, or just plain gloating, that Megan Rapinoe was a big reason for the highly-favored, back-to-back champion’s downfall.
As you can imagine, this celebration of a Team USA loss has America split. Some, not so shockingly, are even claiming that misogyny drove enthusiasm for the defeat.
Just looking at these reactions, you get an understanding that this team was truly polarizing. This team pushed sports fans, and America as a whole, to their breaking point.
Americans come together best during Team USA sporting events and after national tragedies. The Olympics and the World Cup are the best examples. For all of our lives, until recently, Americans could put aside their petty political differences and join in support of the athletes and teams wearing the red, white, and blue.
The problem is when the team wearing the American flag starts shaming the country which they represent. How did we get here? Let’s break it down.
The best place to start is with far-left, blue-haired Megan Rapinoe.
Rapinoe has been coined the “Kaepernick of women’s soccer” for good reason. When the United States Soccer Federation told the USWNT prior to the 2019 World Cup that they could not kneel during the national anthem, Rapinoe led the efforts to repeal the decision, insinuating it was racist by saying that “the policy was wrong” and that the organization should “issue an apology” to black players and supporters.
Megan Rapinoe’s refusal to go to the White House while President Donald Trump was in office also did not help grow her support.
Other than kneeling for the anthem, Rapinoe has built herself a rap sheet full of what many Americans consider perfectly reasonable examples why they choose to not support her.
Rapinoe, along with teammates like Alex Morgan, made bogus claims about pay inequality, which surprisingly won them a $24 million settlement against the United States Soccer Federation and an Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2023 ESPYs.
Rapinoe also called the overturn of Roe v. Wade a "violent onslaught on the autonomy of women’s bodies" and was awarded a Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden. Worst of all, Rapinoe, after announcing this would be her last World Cup before retirement, protected men at the expense of women in sports by signing a petition with her supposed wife, Sue Bird, and over forty biological women to stop the Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act from becoming law, essentially saying they believe men should be allowed to compete with women.
Because of that, it makes sense that millions of Americans have rooted against Rapinoe and the USWNT.
A few other factors that added to the disdain and lack of support was Morgan’s far-left activism. Morgan was an avid supporter of the self-described Marxist organization, Black Lives Matter, which promoted rioting in America’s major cities, then used millions of dollars in donations to buy luxurious homes for their leaders and line their own pockets.
Recently, Morgan was seemingly taking up the woke mantle from Rapinoe, tossing around the idea of boycotting playing in the states of Texas and Florida because the two states are against men competing against girls in sports.
“The inclusion of trans kids in sports is the inclusion of kids in sports,” Morgan said in one interview with The Athletic. “Everyone should have the ability to play sport. The fact that it’s being taken into politics is really sad. And I think it’s at the cost of trans kids’ life.”
Morgan has also been front and center for the fight for “equal pay,” insisting on getting the same money as their male counterparts even though her team couldn’t even beat an under-fifteen boys’ team six years ago.
Outside of those two, many Americans who were on the fence about whether to support the team despite their disdain for the patronizing political activism saw the majority of the USWNT refuse to sing the anthem prior to their opening match in this year’s World Cup, which finally made up their mind. Watch the USWNT and the USMNT side by side during the anthem, displaying the difference of respect and honor for America.
While there are some solid, America-loving players on the USWNT, Americans were tired of the woke nonsense that represented the majority of the team. They were sick of a team preaching that America is racist, misogynist, and regressive.
Americans have supported every single Team USA in my lifetime. They have put their pride and politics aside to root for teams that represent our country and display our flag. Heck, LeBron is probably one of the most far-left, politically active athletes in the country, but people will still cheer for him and Team USA in the Olympics.
From an athletic perspective, they failed miserably. They barely made it out of the group stage. They did not live up to expectations and gave Americans the sense that they didn’t care. Former USWNT player and current Fox Soccer analyst, Carli Lloyd, has even echoed that sentiment.
From an American perspective, they were considered unsupportable because many Americans believe they didn’t represent the foundational values and principles that make our nation great.
It takes a lot to push Americans over the edge, but that is exactly what the USWNT did.
