Megan Rapinoe, who played a huge part in the U.S. women’s national soccer team winning the 2019 FIFA World Cup Sunday said it was unlikely that “many” of her teammates would go to the White House if invited. Rapinoe has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and already said she is “not going to the f—ing White House.”
Before Sunday’s final match against the Netherlands in Lyon, France, Rapinoe was asked if the team would visit the White House if they won and were invited by Trump.
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“I haven’t spoken to everyone about it, obviously not myself, not Ali Krieger, and I suspect not many, if any, of the other players,” Rapinoe told the media, reports Agence France-Presse.
Last week, Rapinoe went viral with her explicit remarks to Eight by Eight about going to the White House. She even told the magazine she believed the White House would not even invite them.
“No f—ing way will we be invited to the White House. [Trump] tries to avoid inviting a team that might decline. Or, like he did when the Warriors turned him down, he’ll claim they hadn’t been invited in the first place,” Rapinoe said, referring to the Golden State Warriors. Last year, the Warriors said they would not go to the White House, before Trump then said they were not invited.
Trump was not the only target of Rapinoe’s anger Sunday morning. The co-captain blasted FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who doubled the women’s tournament prize money from $15 million to $30 million. However, the 2018 men’s FIFA World Cup prize money reached $400 million.
Rapinoe was also not happy that two major men’s international finals were scheduled for Sunday. Brazil and Peru are playing in the Copa America finals, while the U.S. men’s team is facing Mexico for the CONCACAF cup in Chicago. Neither of the other games overlapped with the women’s final, but Rapinoe said they stole the spotlight from the biggest game of the year in women’s soccer.
“There are two other finals going on but this is the World Cup final, this is like, cancel-everything day,” Rapinoe said. “I don’t think that we feel the same level of respect certainly that FIFA has for the men and just in general.”
On Sunday, Team U.S.A. won its second consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup, beating the Netherlands 2-0. Rapinoe scored one of the goals, finished the tournament with six and won the Golden Ball for best overall player and Golden Boot for best scorer. Co-captain Alex Morgan also scored six goals during the tournament, winning the Silver Boot.
The U.S. women’s national team is the first to win four World Cups. The team also won in 1991, 1999 and 2015.
Photo credit: Brad Smith/isiphotos.com/Getty Images
