Women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe off “SheBelieves” roster.
QUICK FACTS:
- U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has called up a squad that mixes youth and experience for this month’s “SheBelieves Cup,” leaving out big names like national anthem-protester Megan Rapinoe, according to ESPN.
- Rapinoe and fellow athlete Alex Morgan were left off the roster in favor of up-and-comers like Sophia Smith and Ashley Sanchez.
- “All these players are very good players—we know that they’ve done so much for this team,” Andonovski told ESPN of the veteran players he decided to leave off the roster.
- “But right now I want to give a chance to players like Sophia Smith and Mal Pugh and Catarina Macario, Ashley Hatch, players that have earned their spot on the national team or earn their spot back. I want to give them maximum minutes or whatever minutes they earn so we can evaluate every aspect of their game, in the training environment or game setting.”
RAPINOE’S DOWNFALL:
- Rapinoe and the rest of the USWNT struggled through an extremely disappointing 2021 Olympic performance, Breitbart reports.
- Heavily favored to win gold entering the tournament, the USWNT posted a mere 1-1-1 record after losing to Sweden 3-0 in the opener, defeating a weak New Zealand squad, and then barely beating the Netherlands.
- Rapinoe and team then lost to Canada before squeaking by Australia and securing a disappointing bronze medal.
BACKGROUND:
- The SheBelieves Cup (held Feb 17–23) will be played at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, and Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, ESPN notes.
- Coach Andonovski emphasized that the move does not mean Rapinoe’s national team career is over: “It doesn’t mean that all these players that have done well in the past are just going to come back here in the next camp because they’ve done well a year ago or two years ago,” Andonovski said.
- Rapinoe—who gained attention by copying Colin Kaepernick’s protests and attacking President Trump—will be 38 by the time the next Women’s World Cup rolls around in 2023, Breitbart notes.
- She made headlines during the 2019 Women’s World Cup when she said she wouldn’t go to the “f—ing White House” to see Trump if the USWNT won gold.
