Megan Rapinoe began her long farewell equivalent of a homecoming.
In the decade and a half since she became a professional soccer player, Rapinoe’s career has taken her to soccer clubs on two continents, the Olympic Games on three and, soon, a fourth World Cup. On Sunday, one day after she surprised her team and her fans by publicly announcing plans to retire at the end of this year, Rapinoe found herself sitting on a bench seat of the national team of US women a few hundred miles from her hometown.
Rapinoe, 38, grew up in Redding, Calif., about 250 miles north of the site of Sunday’s game, PayPal Park in San Jose. She estimated that about 40 of her family members and friends traveled south to see the United States beat Wales, 2-0, in its final game on American soil before the Women’s World Cup that begins last part of this month in Australia and New Zealand.
“This is the closest I’ll ever get to playing Redding in my career,” Rapinoe said Saturday. “It feels very special. Sounds perfect.”
At the news conference where she announced her retirement plans on Saturday, Rapinoe said she was at peace with the decision to walk away from soccer. Now, she is simply relishing the opportunity to bid a proper farewell to the sport that made her an international star, as well as being a spokeswoman for equal rights, equal pay and social justice issues close to her heart.
Rapinoe has played for the national team since 2006. A three-time Olympian and two-time World Cup champion, she has scored 63 goals for the United States and is one of seven players to have accumulated more than 50 goals and 50 assists in his US national team career.
His role is different these days, evolving from a lineup fixture to a late-game substitute. He is still valued by his coach, Vlatko Andonovski, though; he included him in his World Cup roster because he valued his leadership, experience and ability to shape big moments.
Whenever and however he plays forward, he remains a crowd favorite. One fan, Corina Burns, wearing No. 15 T-shirt with the name “Rapinoe” on the back, said she drove from Southern California with her three daughters to attend Sunday’s game. This isn’t the family’s first trip to see the national team play: They were in France four years ago when Rapinoe was one of the Americans’ most important players in their 2019 World Cup victory.
“We saw him play and fell in love with him,” Burns said.
That World Cup remains, for now, Rapinoe’s crowning achievement. He won both the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer and the Golden Ball as its outstanding player. It was also when he cemented his status as a pop culture icon: He scored six goals in the competition even as he clashed publicly with President Donald J. Trump.
He remains an unabashed voice, but he’s a different player these days. Rapinoe has been hampered by injuries for months, with an ankle injury keeping her out of the start of the National Women’s Soccer League season and a calf injury keeping her out of the national team’s two matches against Ireland in April. Andonovski said following Sunday’s game that Rapinoe is medically cleared to play in the World Cup, but is still working towards game fitness.
In her absence, newer faces — Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Alyssa Thompson — began claiming the forward position where Rapinoe was once the obvious choice. That new generation, the one to fill the space vacated by Rapinoe, was on display again against Wales.
In the 76th minute on Sunday, Rodman, 21, broke through a scoreless game by easily scoring off a cross from Smith, 22. Rodman struck again in the 88th minute, who powered a shot from 20 yards past the hands of Wales goalkeeper Olivia Clark. Rodman became the youngest American player to score two goals in an international match since 2019.
“It’s a younger roster this year, but the mix of experience and the young guys are really good at learning from each other,” Rodman said after the game as chants of “USA” rang out. throughout the stadium. “As much as we learn from them, they can learn from us.”
In that regard, Rapinoe still has a lot to offer. Andonovski has made no secret of how much he appreciates the wisdom and institutional knowledge he brings to a team that now features players like 18-year-old Thompson, fresh out of high school, and Savannah DeMelo, 25, who received him. first cap on Sunday, in addition to dozens of other new faces heading into their first World Cup.
That the US was struggling to break down a resilient Wales team that failed to qualify for the World Cup until Rodman scored twice off the bench is perhaps a hopeful indication that Rapinoe may have a key role to play. must be performed before he walks away from the team for good. .
His chance did not come on Sunday: Rapinoe did not warm up and Andonovski never called for him to go on. It’s another sign that although Rapinoe says her time is up, times may have changed.