United States women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe is hyped for World Cup, not so much for the turf, and pretty much conceding that anything is possible for this summer’s tournament in Canada.
In a sprawling piece entitled “5 Reasons to Get Hyped for The 2015 Women’s World Cup“, the USWNT’s energetic and dynamic veteran provides an interesting read on the mindset of the Yanks heading into the tourney.
If you wanted to be positive, you’d read this as a letter from a veteran player who doesn’t want to drop the turf debate but is incredibly fired up to rep her country in an effort to bring the World Cup back to the United States.
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If you wanted to be negative, you’d read this as a letter that tells you how hard it is to win the World Cup, that the turf could really harm the better teams’ chances at surviving, and that really a lot the teams can win the thing.
But, Rapinoe, being one of the best personalities in the game, she brings a great zest to her story. And her take on the Canada rivalry is not only spot-on, it’ll make you want the tourney to start pronto.
So, Canada doesn’t like us very much. The U.S. Men’s National Team has Mexico. We have Canada. Personally, I don’t hate them, but I can understand why they’re still mad about the “delay of game” call on their keeper that sparked our crazy comeback win in the semifinals of the 2012 Olympics. They thought the penalty was B.S., and looking back, maybe it wasn’t the most deserved penalty. But it wasn’t like the game was 1-0. We scored three other goals, plus the goal in extra time. Still, I can understand why they feel hard-done by the call.
The tension of the rivalry has been building since that game, and I feel like it’s fueling them going into the World Cup. Tactically, when they play us, their mentality is, “We’re going to do whatever we have to do to win. The gloves are off.”
To recap: After a little, “Yeah, your nation was cheated, Canada”, Rapinoe drops a passive-aggressive, “You only stick with us in games by fouling the heck out of us” jab.
It’s also worth noting that they scored four total goals, not five as Rapinoe’s math states. And that the “craziness” of the comeback is due almost solely to the almost never called foul on Erin McLeod. But Rapinoe was an absolute beast in that match, so we suppose she can say whatever she wants.
Bring on the World Cup.
