Megan Rapinoe is more than a star of the women’s soccer team of the USAwhich will seek to repeat the title in the Australia and New Zealand World Cup. The Californian, from 38 yearsis one of the most talented attackers and media coverage and her objective is clear: to be able to retire with a new star and continue the fight for gender equality in sport.
pinoe It is an emblem for women’s sport. In addition to becoming a two-time world champion with her team (2015 and 2019) and winning the Ballon d’Or, she took advantage of her great career on the field to promote her social and political activism to reach the broad masses.
Since her youth, the Redding-born was a very active athlete, even performing in disciplines such as track and field and basketball. She also participated in events such as the McDonald’s All-American Game (match in which the best players from high school of the year, both in the male and female categories). However the soccer He could more and conquered his heart. His first official tournament in the eleven-on-eleven sport, it was the Women’s Premier Soccer League at the Elk Grove Pride club, in 2002.
rapinoe was advancing in the league until in 2004 He got the opportunity to represent his country in the Under-19 World Cup, in which he would reach third place with the USA Team. This cost him “losing” a year in his time as a university soccer player, so his debut did not take place until 2005 with the Portland Pilotsfrom the University of Portland, Oregon (in this institution she was accompanied by her twin sister Rachel Rapinoe).
Her time in this category positioned her as the second pick in the draft of the Women’s Professional Soccer: the Chicago Red Stars they selected her in 2009 for the inaugural season. He later emigrated to clubs like Philadelphia Independence, MagicJack (a team that lasted only one season after his disaffiliation), Sydney FC, Olympique de Lyon, and the OL Reignhis current club.
Megan’s start with the United States national team was from the youth ranks, specifically the Under-16. His rise was meteoric: debuted with the absolute in 2006 in a friendly match against China Tapei. Everything indicated that she would be the one who would lead the team in the following World Cups and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The stones that appeared in the way of the talented soccer player were the injuries. Since the beginning of his career at the University, rapinoe suffered from problems in Anterior cruciate ligament, which he endured until they flared up again and complicated his future. Megan was unable to participate in the 2007 World Cup and the 2008 Games, both held in China. Despite his absence, USA he took third place in the World Cup and the Olympic gold medal.
With her recovery, she positioned herself as a candidate to be one of the figures in the new World Cup 2011 and in London 2012. In the first, she had great performances, however, she was not enough to be a champion, but at least she won the gold medal in the Olympic Games.
The successes in World Cups finally came in pairs: in Canada 2015 and France 2019. Her performance in the latter was transcendental so that in that year she was also recognized as the best player in the world by FIFAin addition to also receiving the Golden Ball awarded by the magazine French Football.
Another of the great battles of Megan Rapinoe was to end the wage inequality between the United States men’s and women’s teams, for which he did not hesitate to take his own federation to court together with his teammates. This legal dispute lasted until May 2022, when they reached a pioneering agreement with the federation to equalize the salaries of the two teams.
Additionally, the forward was the first white sports figure to openly support the American football player, Colin Kaepernick, who denounced racism and police abuse against African-American people. This generated strong sparks with the former president, donald trump.
In 2020 he also provided strong support to the movement Black Lives Matter during the wave of protests over the death of the African-American George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in 2020.
As a feminist activist and defender of the rights of the LGBT+ community, the co-captain of the United States drew attention in 2019 when she refused to be received with her selection by Trump at the White House for the World Cup triumph.
The leader of the Team USA (199 games, 63 goals) always has the support of his fiancée sue bird, former star of women’s basketball. Now, in New Zealand and Australia, Megan will seek to grow her legend.
Keep reading:
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The complete guide to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand: team record, Argentina’s fixture, TV and everything there is to know
Hand in hand with Germán Portanova: from making shoes to being the mastermind behind the Argentine team in the Women’s World Cup
Who is Máximo Carrizo, the promise of soccer in the United States that Pablo Aimar summoned again to the Under 15 National Team
Source-www.infobae.com