{"id":291142,"date":"2023-09-24T16:38:29","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T16:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=291142"},"modified":"2023-09-24T16:38:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T16:38:29","slug":"rapinoe-ends-uswnt-era-back-in-chicago-where-she-first-took-the-knee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/rapinoe-ends-uswnt-era-back-in-chicago-where-she-first-took-the-knee\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapinoe ends USWNT era back in Chicago where she first took the knee"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Megan Rapinoe will end a long and controversial USWNT career by returning to Chicago today&#8230; where she first took the knee and where everything began to snowball<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Megan Rapinoe plays her final game for the United States on Sunday in Chicago<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>The 38-year-old waves goodbye after a tumultuous international career<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Barely anyone noticed the first time Megan Rapinoe took a seat and then took a stand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was protest on a whim: unplanned and virtually unseen. Back on September 2, 2016, the USWNT star was in the crowd to watch women\u2019s basketball: Seattle Storm at Chicago Sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the arena rose for the national anthem, Rapinoe stayed put. She later called it \u2018a reflex reaction\u2019 borne out of \u2018outrage\u2019 and \u2018a desire to show solidarity\u2019 with NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who a day earlier begun to knee in protest at police brutality and racial injustice.<\/p>\n<p>Sue Bird was playing for the Storm back then. She is now Rapinoe\u2019s partner and that night she spotted the soccer player sitting. She realised its significance. Beyond that, though? Barely a ripple.<\/p>\n<p>It took a few more days before controversy began to swell. On September 4, Rapinoe\u2019s Seattle Reign played at Chicago Red Stars. She started as a substitute and, this time, she became America&#8217;s\u00a0first white athlete to take a knee.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761625-12552577-In_2016_before_Seattle_Reign_vs_Chicago_Red_Stars_Megan_Rapinoe_-a-34_1695558389303.jpg\" height=\"482\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>In 2016, before Seattle Reign vs. Chicago Red Stars, Megan Rapinoe\u00a0became America&#8217;s first white athlete to take a knee<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761407-12552577-Rapinoe_will_play_her_final_game_for_the_United_States_against_S-a-33_1695558389281.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rapinoe will play her final game for the United States against South Africa on Sunday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761619-12552577-image-a-35_1695558389371.jpg\" height=\"426\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>She first took the knee while wearing national team colors against Thailand later in September<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I assumed I\u2019d be little more than an irritant,\u2019 Rapinoe later admitted. \u2018In the days after\u2026 I realised I had called it wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Before long, one of the USWNT\u2019s most successful players had become one of sport\u2019s most polarising, significant figures. \u2018Hate mail poured into my agent\u2019s office. People called for me to be fired from the team. My social media feeds filled up with abuse,\u2019 she recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Since those three days in Chicago, Rapinoe, now 38, has been accused of bullying teammates and disrespecting her country. She earned a ticking off from US Soccer but has left an indelible mark on her sport and her peers. She boiled the blood of one former president and earned the Medal of Freedom from another.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A backbone of this team,\u2019 Alex Morgan called her. \u2018Someone who is going to stand up for (something) when it&#8217;s not always a popular opinion&#8230; she hasn&#8217;t had an easy time on the national team, especially in the last five years.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>This week, Rapinoe returns for another September Sunday in Chicago. To face South Africa, to make one final appearance for the United States. To wave goodbye in the place where something changed and everything began to snowball.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761363-12552577-The_38_year_old_was_described_as_a_backbone_of_this_team_by_team-a-38_1695558391642.jpg\" height=\"431\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old was described as\u00a0\u2018a backbone of this team\u2019 by teammate Alex Morgan (right)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761365-12552577-_When_I_d_campaigned_for_LGBTQ_rights_or_pay_equity_I_was_warmly-a-36_1695558389624.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>\u2018When I\u2019d campaigned for LGBTQ rights or pay equity, I (was) warmly received,&#8217; Rapinoe said<\/p>\n<p>By September 2016, Rapinoe had already won the World Cup (2015) and captured Olympic gold (2012). She had been a US international for a decade and already she had built a lasting legacy. Sports had been only one strand of her story for a while \u2013 Rapinoe was known to speak her mind and had fought to combat homophobia and to secure equal pay.<\/p>\n<p>But by dropping to one knee, she moved into the firing line and flirted with infamy.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old&#8217;s first protest from the bench often gets lost in the fog of what followed. One ex- Reign teammate, who played that day, didn\u2019t remember that Chicago was where it all began.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone cared at the time, either. Some match reports focus only on the Red Stars\u2019 recovery from 2-0 to snatch a 2-2 tie.<\/p>\n<p>But many people did notice, including the owner of Washington Spirit \u2013 Seattle\u2019s next opponents. A few days later, to prevent the game being \u2018hijacked\u2019, the team took the \u2018extraordinary step\u2019 of playing Star Spangled Banner while the teams were in the locker room &#8211; \u2018rather than subject our fans and friends to the disrespect we feel such an act would represent.\u2019 Rapinoe\u2019s response? \u2018F****** unbelievable&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, the controversy only intensified again when she took her protest to the international stage. Before the USWNT faced Thailand, the following week, Rapinoe knelt during the anthem for the first time in her country\u2019s colors.<\/p>\n<p>US Soccer released a statement which read: \u2018As part of the privilege to represent your country, we have an expectation that our players and coaches will stand and honor our flag while the national anthem is played.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/74103145-12552577-Rapinoe_came_under_the_fire_after_missing_a_penalty_in_the_2023_-a-31_1695558389221.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rapinoe came under the fire after missing a penalty in the 2023 World Cup and then smiling<\/p>\n<p>Supporters made their feelings known, too. During the USA\u2019s next match, after she knelt once more, Rapinoe was booed. Then captain Carli Lloyd, admitted that Rapinoe\u2019s protests were becoming a distraction. Coach Jill Ellis soon left her out entirely and in 2017, US Soccer formally banned national team players from kneeling during the anthem.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I hadn\u2019t been expecting anything like this scale of outrage,\u2019 Rapinoe later admitted. \u2018When I\u2019d campaigned for LGBTQ rights or pay equity, I had always been warmly received\u2026 there is a particular kind of baffled outrage reserved by white people for other white people they consider to be \u201cbetraying\u201d their race and that week I felt the full force of it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Neither her exile nor US Soccer\u2019s policy lasted. But the dye had been cast. For the next seven years, Rapinoe has lived at the center of a cultural tug of war. &#8216;I feel like I&#8217;m a walking protest,&#8217; as she once put it.<\/p>\n<p>Few athletes, in any sport, straddle such deep dividing lines. It\u2019s a tale that can be told through two presidents and two teammates.<\/p>\n<p>Hope Solo once claimed she had seen Megan Rapinoe &#8216;almost bully players into kneeling because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/74103103-12552577-Rapinoe_triggered_a_feud_with_Donald_Trump_when_she_said_she_wou-a-32_1695558389277.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Rapinoe triggered a feud with Donald Trump when she said she wouldn&#8217;t go the White House<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/13\/75761351-12552577-In_2022_Rapinoe_became_the_first_soccer_player_to_earn_the_Presi-a-37_1695558391076.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>In 2022, Rapinoe became the first soccer player to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/p>\n<p>But for Beverly Yanez, who played that day in Chicago, what lingers is all the fun and laughter and dancing they would share. \u2018If you needed anything, you could call her, she would pick you up and take care of you,\u2019 she tells Mail Sport.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, Rapinoe led the US to a second-straight World Cup triumphy but became embroiled in war of words with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>At this year\u2019s tournament, when the anthem again became a lightning rod for frustration back home, Rapinoe\u2019s final act was to miss a penalty. And then smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many of our players were openly hostile to America \u2013 no other country behaved in such a manner, or even close,\u2019 Trump wrote. \u2018WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Only a year earlier, Rapinoe had become the first soccer player to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom. \u2018Megan is a champion for essential American truth that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect,\u2019 Joe Biden said. On Sunday, back in Chicago, it\u2019s time for the walking protest to say farewell.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12552577\/Megan-Rapinoe-end-long-controversial-USWNT-career.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Megan Rapinoe will end a long and controversial USWNT career by returning to Chicago today&#8230; where she first took the knee and where everything began to snowball Megan Rapinoe plays her final game for the United States on Sunday in Chicago The 38-year-old waves goodbye after a tumultuous international career DailyMail.com provides all the latest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rapinoe ends USWNT era back in Chicago where she first took the knee - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/rapinoe-ends-uswnt-era-back-in-chicago-where-she-first-took-the-knee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rapinoe ends USWNT era back in Chicago where she first took the knee - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Megan Rapinoe will end a long and controversial USWNT career by returning to Chicago today&#8230; 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