The U.S. women’s national team are the once again the reigning World Cup champions and will enter this year’s tournament with the goal of defending their title.
The American women have dominated the sport’s biggest tournament, winning the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup titles. On Saturday, Rapinoe revealed her plans to retire from professional soccer once the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League season comes to an end.
On Wednesday, Rapinoe suggested that the timing of her retirement will work to Team USA’s benefit when the World Cup kicks off later this month. She noted that her decision to announce her plans to soon step away from the game put an end to potential in-tournment questions about her retirement.
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“Obviously I’m 38 years old, I’m not going to be playing forever and it just always feels weird for me to have something settled and feel at peace and to not answer a question honestly,” Rapinoe said. “I kind of wanted to have that for myself.”
Now that she does not have to worry about fielding questions about how much longer she will play, Rapinoe said the entire team can “focus a lot more.”
“I think it allows me to focus a lot more, allows the team to focus a lot more. We don’t have to get questions every time, every single game. It’s just kind of out there and I can just really enjoy it and focus on trying to win the tournament.”
Rapinoe is already a two-time World Cup winner and she is seeking her third title. This year’s World Cup will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Rapinoe said she hopes to inspire young New Zealand women to play soccer.
“I think especially those of us who have been around for a long time, (it) certainly wasn’t like this for all the World Cups that we’ve been a part of our entire career,” she said. “I think we can really see and feel the game growing and world changing around us.
“I know what that meant for me to be able to see Mia Hamm up close or see Brandi Chastain up close when I was younger — so hopefully it’s an inspiration to them, but I think it’s also an inspiration to us as well.”
Rapinoe praised the training facilities the U.S. team has experienced since arriving in Auckland and said the cold, wet weather was not a concern.
“I’m from Seattle so I feel literally right at home,” she said. “I don’t mind it too much. “It’d be one thing if we were in the tundra but it’s pretty temperate so maybe a long sleeve but I don’t even know if we’ll need to break the gloves out. I’d honestly rather have this than scorching heat. I just tend to melt and don’t do very well in the heat.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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