Now that Megan Rapinoe bids farewell to world football at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, it’s worth looking back at the moment she first took the big stage. It was the summer of 2011, the World Cup in Germany, and the US women were playing against Colombia when Rapinoe scored a shot under the bar to make it 2-0. She rushed towards the corner flag, to a microphone in the stadium, raised her fist. And roared “Born in the U.S.A.”, Springsteen’s protest anthem, often misunderstood as a patriotic one. This is how she presented herself and her program to the world: not only would she play – better than everyone else – but wrestle with the country she played for.
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