{"id":321814,"date":"2023-08-07T01:59:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T01:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=321814"},"modified":"2023-08-07T03:58:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T03:58:37","slug":"sick-joke-all-time-greats-final-act-slammed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=321814","title":{"rendered":"'Sick joke': All-time great's final act slammed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retiring US football star Megan Rapinoe<\/a> has been savaged following her horror missed penalty in their FIFA Women's World Cup<\/a> shootout against Sweden.<\/p>\n

With her side up 3-2 in the shootout, Rapinoe's kick would have all but secured the US a spot in the quarter-final against Japan.<\/p>\n

But she sprayed her kick over the crossbar, allowing Sweden back into the shootout, which they would eventually win when Lina Hurtig's shot \u2013 which looked to have been saved by American 'keeper Alyssa Naeher \u2013 was judged by VAR to have crossed the line by just one millimetre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> US dumped from World Cup in incredible penalty shootout<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Diamonds dominate England for record World Cup win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The Matildas super fans urging Australia to chant<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But Rapinoe's immediate reaction to her miss fuelled an abhorrent pile-on from American fans and pundits \u2013 rather than drop to her knees or cover her face, she laughed.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/p>\n

The kick was Rapinoe's final act in international football, having earlier this year announced this World Cup would be her final major tournament before retiring altogether at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Asked about her reaction post-game, Rapinoe said missing the kick was "like a sick joke".<\/p>\n

"(A) dark comedy that I missed a penalty," she said.<\/p>\n

"Alyssa (Naeher) came up huge, kept us in it (by) scoring as well. This is the balance to the beautiful side of the game. Just not our day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/p>\n

"I still feel really grateful, joyful. This is the end but to know this is the only time I've been in (a losing interview) this early says so much about how much success I've been able to have and how much I've loved playing for this team and playing for this country."<\/p>\n

Rapinoe earned 202 US caps since her debut in 2006, and was part of the all-conquering US team that won the last two World Cups in 2015 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Some of the criticism of Rapinoe has been so vile Wide World of Sports will not publish it. A lot of it is politically driven, particularly from conservative commentators.<\/p>\n

Rapinoe has been a polarising figure as an avid campaigner for equal pay and LGBTQI+ rights, and has become the face of the so-called 'woke' political agenda in America.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/p>\n

This, along with her trademark short and often brightly-coloured hair, has made her a lightning rod for personal attacks.<\/p>\n

Former US president Donald Trump also weighed in, and somehow managed to blame Rapinoe's miss and America's early exit on Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

"The loss … is fully emblematic of what is happening to (our) once great Nation under … Joe Biden," he wrote on Truth Social.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Woke equals failure. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell."\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/krassenstein\/status\/1688361679329906688<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/EricSpracklen\/status\/1688225467789197313<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheKaylaKnapp\/status\/1688261259320545280<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BettyBowers\/status\/1688248566790144000<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaraGonzalesTX\/status\/1688260007526047746<\/a><\/p>\n

In a separate post-game interview, Rapinoe was asked what her career highlight was, and listed her fight for equal pay which resulted in a landmark agreement which saw some $US24 million in back pay distributed to female players, as well as an equal-pay commitment from the US Soccer Association.<\/p>\n

"I could've been saying a lot of things (but) I think this team has always fought for so much more, and that's been the most rewarding part for me," she said.<\/p>\n

"Of course, playing in World Cups and winning championships and doing all that, but to know we've used our really special talent to do something that's changed the world forever, I think that means the most to me."<\/p>\n

Sweden will take on Japan in their quarter-final match-up at Eden Park at 5.30pm AEST \ufeffFriday.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring US football star Megan Rapinoe has been savaged following her horror missed penalty in their FIFA Women's World Cup shootout against Sweden. With her […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":321816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321814"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321820,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321814\/revisions\/321820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/321816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}