It truly is the end of an era.
Days after Julie Ertz played her final game with the United States Women’s National Team, Megan Rapinoe is set to do the same.
Rapinoe will play her final game with the USWNT on Sunday against South Africa in Soldier Field in Chicago.
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Rapinoe’s career spans many clubs but the decorated two-time World Cup champion started her career in Chicago. Rapinoe was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars with the second overall pick in the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) draft in 2009.
In addition to winning the World Cup in 2015 and 2019, Rapinoe is the only player in World Cup history to score multiple goals in back-to-back knockout games – doing so in 2019, scoring a brace against Spain in the round of 16 and against France in the quarterfinals. Rapinoe has nine World Cup goals to her name, only two behind Germany’s Bettina Wiegmann with 11 for the most scored by a non-forward.
Rapinoe ranks in the top-ten in national team history in goals and assists. She’s scored the 10th most international goals with 63 and has the third most assists with 73.Her accomplishments on the pitch are abundant and too many to list.
But as important has been Rapinoe’s impact off the pitch.
Soccer
Rapinoe is an openly gay player and has long used her platform to be an activist for the LGBTQ+ community and for social justice movements. She was one of the first athletes to kneel during the National Anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. Rapinoe was also front and center in the USWNT’s fight for equal pay.
In 2022, Rapinoe became the first women’s soccer player ro receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On Sunday, Rapinoe will be making her 203rd appearance for the national team, becoming only the 14th woman to make 200-plus appearances for the USWNT. When she steps off the field for the final, Rapinoe will be leaving behind a lasting legacy. A legacy that stretches far beyond the constraints of a soccer pitch.