United States Women’s National Team Captain Megan Rapinoe has officially achieved worldwide infamy over the last couple of weeks. Before that, you may have never heard of her.
The divisive American athlete rose to this celebrity level when asked if she would attend the White House if they won the World Cup and Rapinoe said “I’m not going to the f—king White House.” And she’s been unapologetic about her comments ever since.
And now Megan Rapinoe is furious for another absolutely ridiculous reason.
The United States will compete for the gold medal on Sunday against the Netherlands with the entire world watching in France.
Like the summer and winter Olympics, this worldwide event only happens once every four years – and soccer, or futbol, is without a doubt the most popular sport on Earth right now.
And this USWNT is so good they’ve only given up a total of three goals throughout six games thus far and they’ve never trailed at any moment during the whole tournament. In fact, they’ve only given up a total of three goals thanks to savant goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who has been nothing short of incredible so far.
But shockingly, much to everyone’s dismay, Rapinoe didn’t play in the match against England. It was curiously bizarre.
After the game, they revealed it had nothing to do with discipline and that Rapinoe was nursing a hamstring issue, but feels confident that she’ll be able to play in the World Cup championship on Sunday.
But there’s another worldwide event occurring on Sunday as well.
Just a few hours after the United States and the Netherlands meet in the Women’s World Cup final in France, Brazil or Peru will celebrate winning the Copa America, South America’s men’s championship. And then at night, the United States or Mexico will win the CONCACAF Gold Cup – the men’s title of North and Central America and the Caribbean.
That right there are three different championships happening this upcoming Sunday.
When asked, Rapinoe admitted, “It’s ridiculous and disappointing, to be honest.” She’s probably furious because it will overshadow their championship game. It would be like playing three different Super Bowls on the same day, but if American football was also a worldwide sport.
FIFA believes playing all three on the same day will boost the brand and the sport.
FIFA’s governing body issued a statement that read, “The scheduling of the different events has gone through a comprehensive consultancy process, which has involved all key stakeholders and taken into account different aspects of the women’s and men’s international match calendars. It is a rare and exciting occurrence.”
However, CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani contradicted the statement and chalked it up to a “clerical error,” instead.
Former American midfielder and Fox’s World Cup analyst Aly Wagner said on-air, “It’s terrible. It is so disturbing to me that the Women’s World Cup does not have its own day to stand on its own and have a final to highlight these tremendous athletes and their work and their accomplishment. They wouldn’t dream of doing it to the men. Why would they do it to the women?”
The Women’s World Cup Final will start at 11am ET instead of the 2-3pm time slot they’ve been on for all the previous games.
It seems as though the Women’s WC was bumped to the earlier slot to oblige the other men’s world championships.
But rather than be focused on doing her job, Rapinoe is superfluously mad about an issue that is out of literally everybody’s control.