Forward Megan Rapinoe, 38, played her last match on Sunday for the United States women’s national soccer team, for which she was an Olympic champion and a two-time world champion.
In the friendly with South Africa, held in Chicago and which the North Americans won 2-0, Rapinoe completed a 17-year cycle with the national team, during which she played 203 matches and scored 63 goals.
The player, one of the big stars of the United States national team, will end her career in November when the regular season of the women’s soccer championship, which she plays for OL Reign, ends.
Megan Rapinoe, voted FIFA Player of the Year in 2019, is known for her role in defending the rights of the LGBT+ community, in the fight for human rights, and was also highlighted in the defense of salary equalization in women’s and men’s football.
The striker, an Olympic champion in London in 2012 and World Cup in 2015 and 2019, was a substitute used in the match that led to Portugal’s elimination from the 2023 World Cup, played in August, which ended in a goalless draw.
“I am grateful to have played for so long, with so many incredible players, and for the successes I have achieved both on and off the field,” Rapinoe said at the end of the match with the South Africans.
On Sunday, when she was substituted in the 54th minute of the match, Megan Rapinoe received a standing ovation, with the US federation posting a thank you message on social media with the message: “Pioneer, icon, inspiration. You made this sport, this country and make this world a little better.”
Source: DN
