Having a reputation like Megan Rapinoe doesn’t leave a lot of wriggle room.
The soccer star who’s spent years as a mainstay of the U.S. Women’s National Team infuriating her countrymen with showboating antics like kneeling for the national anthem and bragging during a victory parade, hasn’t exactly given the country a reason to be forgiving.
So when she missed a penalty kick Sunday in the Women’s World Cup, then appeared to be laughing about it, a lot of viewers weren’t ready to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Megan Rapinoe laughs after missing crucial penalty kick, sealing US team’s early exit from World Cup https://t.co/alcb5PqvLD via @americanwire_ >><> Bye Megan. It’s been real.
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) August 6, 2023
“Megan Rapinoe misses a crucial penalty kick and laughs about it. She’s pure trash,” one X user wrote.
Megan Rapinoe misses a crucial penalty kick and laughs about it. She’s pure trash pic.twitter.com/cGgkDhtzMy
— James Rossi (@realjamesrossi) August 6, 2023
Laughing after missing a PK that effectively eliminated your country from the World Cup is certainly a choice
Is Megan Rapinoe the most unlikable American Athlete of all time? pic.twitter.com/v2Bj1NO1q3
— Nick Perkins (@NPerkins96) August 6, 2023
To be fairer than leftists ever would be to a conservative athlete (just ask Curt Schilling), it’s impossible to believe Rapinoe actually thought it was funny that she booted a penalty kick completely over the goal during the tie-breaking portion of the U.S. loss to Sweden on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.
And to be clear, by itself the kick wasn’t what lost the match. Aside from the U.S. team being unable to score despite numerous opportunities in regulation play, two of Rapinoe’s teammates also missed their penalty kick shots after her.
More likely, the laughter was the nervous reaction of an athlete who knew she’d stood alone on the world stage, then failed spectacularly.
“This is like a sick joke,” she said about 10 minutes later, according to the BBC. “For me personally, I’m just like, ‘this is dark comedy. I missed a penalty.’”
The fact that it was almost certainly her last appearance in a soccer match that will mean anything had to add to the pathos. As the BBC reported, Rapinoe announced before the tournament started that she would be retiring at its end. She started in none of the games during the tournament, coming in as a sub in three of the team’s four World Cup matches.
Will U.S. Women’s Soccer Team be better without Rapinoe?
Yes: 98% (2058 Votes)
No: 2% (36 Votes)
Unfortunately for Rapinoe, and for the women’s squad in general, the reservoir of sympathy back in the States isn’t exactly overflowing.
This is a team that’s basically thumbed its nose at its own country for years now — agitating for “equal pay” when women’s soccer doesn’t bring in anywhere near the revenue men’s soccer does; refusing to pay due respect to “The Star-Spangled Banner” when it was played before games. (If this was the Oberlin debating team taking on Bryn Mawr, it would be one thing. It’s not. The players and the country know it.)
And now its best-known face has been seen around the world literally laughing at the fact that she’d let down her team at a crucial moment — a letdown that led to the once-dynastic team being booted from the Women’s World Cup earlier than ever before.
Rapinoe, now 38, has spent years as a lightning rod of controversy for years.
Just last week, she was among the players who earned a well-deserved public scolding from former USWNT star Carly Lloyd for dancing and celebrating after barely escaping an even earlier exit from the World Cup on Tuesday.
She’s not going to disappear, of course.
After agitating for the lie that women soccer players are underpaid, and the lie that the American national anthem doesn’t deserve to be honored, she’s moved on to the lie that male athletes should be able to compete against women athletes under the bizarre lie that there’s no physical difference between the sexes, she’s likely to be a bold-faced name for years to come.
The woman can choose her battles.
If she’s lucky, the memory of her face laughing after a mighty contribution to the defeat of her team and her country in the biggest international tournament of her sport won’t be the one that sticks.
If she’s lucky.
But she’s got a reputation — and she’s got that reputation for a reason.
