2023-07-19 11:09:45
Double world champion and Olympic football champion, the American Megan Rapinoe will undoubtedly be the star of this 2023 Women’s World Cup which begins on July 20 in Auckland, New Zealand. The United States will begin their campaign against Vietnam on July 22, before facing the Netherlands and Portugal.
Published on: 07/19/2023 – 11:09
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With the Brazilian Marta, Megan Rapinoe remains one of the most famous players in the world. The one who announced her retirement at the end of the season has shaken the nets throughout her career. At the last World Cup in France, in 2019, she was crowned best player and then won the Ballon d’Or.
At 38, Megan Rapinoe embarks on a new challenge, one last lap before saying goodbye. “ It is with a deep sense of peace and gratitude that I have decided that this season will be my last playing this magnificent sport. “, she writes on her social networks, before preparing to play with the United States the fourth World Cup of her career. “ I could never have imagined how football shaped and forever changed my life “, added the talented left-hander who, with her six goals, had played a major part in the coronation of the Americans in France.
An activist
An influential voice in the fight against inequality, Megan Rapinoe, 199 selections spread over 17 years, is also a committed activist. A feminist activist, on the front line of the fight for LGBT + rights since coming out in 2012, the co-captain of the selection had alienated US President Donald Trump in 2019. She knelt down during the American anthem, to denounce police violence against black people in the wake of the former American football star (NFL) Colin Kaepernick. She had also given strong support to the movement Black Lives Matterin the wake of protests in the United States after the death of George Floydthis African-American asphyxiated during his arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020.
« It would be irresponsible not to use this international platform to try to get things moving “, she explained. If the spectators of the World Cup in France four years ago keep the memory of his arms wide open to celebrate his goals, Rapinoe sends his first political messages without complex. Above all, she does not care about what will be said and reprisals, unlike male players.
Revolted by the salary inequality between the male and female selections of the United States, the attacker of OL Reign, the Seattle franchise, has never hesitated to attack his federation either, including on the judicial field. This long fight started by the quadruple world champions in court at the end of the 2019 World Cup only ended in May 2022 with an agreement with US Soccer establishing equal salary treatment in selections.
Football, his escape
The energy of her fights, the leader of “Team USA” draws it in particular from her fiancée Sue Bird, ex-star of women’s basketball and five-time Olympic champion.
Born on July 5, 1985 in Redding, in rural northern California, it was by her brother Brian, that she ” idolized “, that she discovered football at the age of three. ” I wanted to do everything like him “, she confides. Until Brian was arrested at age 15 for dealing drugs in high school. ” Broken heart “, sad and angry, football then became his escape.
Last month, Megan Rapinoe stressed the importance of the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand for the recognition of women’s participation in sport. This World Cup, she said, is ” a real opportunity to burst the ceiling in terms of enthusiasm, media and sponsors and more broadly business around this sport ». « I think now everyone is “trendy” women’s football “, she added, saying to glimpse a “ paradigm shift ».
After the World Cup, Megan Rapinoe will be left with the end of the NWSL season, which ends in November. ” To be able to play one last World Cup and one last season in the NWSL (the American championship) and to go away as I have decided is something extraordinarily special. »
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