It was 2011 in Dresden and the match was late in stoppage time of the second half of extra time. Roughly thirty yards out from goal alone on the left flank, Megan Rapinoe’s left foot struck the cross toward the far post. It was a desperate moment for for the USA, down a goal and facing quarterfinal elimination at the hands of Brazil. At the top of the six yard box Abby got her head on it; the miracle finish happened, the ball was in the back of the net, and it sent the match to penalties.
In 2019 in Lyon the penalty was given after VAR review in the 61st minute of a scoreless final. Pinoe stepped up to take the responsibility of converting a potentially world championship winning penalty. After converting, she sprinted to the corner and struck a now iconic pose on the way to a second consecutive world cup winners medal.
In 2023, earlier this month, it was the 77th minute of the NWSL Challenge Cup semifinal at Lumen Field in Seattle. OL Reign was down a goal to Racing Louisville FC. Waiting at midfield with fellow Reign original Jessica Fishlock, she would enter on short rest and sprint down to take a corner, trying to rally her club to a comeback.
Megan Rapinoe is retiring from soccer this fall. Her final time on the pitch as a professional footballer will take place sometime between the NWSL regular season finale October 15 in Chicago; against the Red Stars club she began her professional career with in the WPS in 2009, and November 11 in San Diego, at the NWSL Championship match should the Reign make and progress that far in the postseason.
This is both a story ending and another story beginning. She is retiring as a player, but through her activism, fashions, modeling, and public profile as a queer icon, Pinoe will end her playing journey with her post-playing career well underway. Her memoir “One Life” in 2020 was a bestseller. She has appeared as a model in magazines like the ESPN Body Issue and for Victoria’s Secret. Partnering with national team teammates she is a co-founder of fashion brand re-inc. In 2022, she was the recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
There was a chance this week one day after training to speak with Megan about her pending retirement.
“It’s a little bit tough right now because I’m having to sort of be in the moment,” Rapinoe noted, “and still just doing all the normal things and being focused and training every day and kind of the focus that takes while also trying to make space for those. Last kind of special moments and things that will just never happen again.”
After the end of the WPS. and a year where she played in the Olympics and some matches for the W-League Seattle Sounders Women, Seattle was still not her first choice in 2013 with the launch of the NWSL. She could have stayed in France playing for Lyon. She gave it a shot with the new Reign club. The city grew on her and she retires in 2023 very much a part of the pantheon of Seattle soccer and sports legends.
Will anyone else ever wear the number 15 for the Reign?
“I just can’t even have imagined what it would have been like to not be here and to not be coached by Laura,” she said. “And I think in playing with Jess and Lu and just the way we play really unlocked the next kind of phase of my career.”
Her activism and status as a queer icon has made her private life often very public and led to intense scrutiny. Through all of this, she has remained available to local media after matches, often when it would clearly be more convenient not to. Being the veteran leader on the Reign has meant facing the media after disappointments like the 2015 final against FCKC. When the Reign played their first match at Lumen as a doubleheader in 2021 with the MLS Sounders FC she replied, “We deserve it, we deserve this,” when questioned about moving to the stadium full time.
As a footballer, her career was full of team achievements at the international, professional, and college levels. Individual moments and highlights are plenty. She retires with two world cup winners medals, a FIFA Golden Ball, an Olympic gold medal, A FIFA Best Women’s Player award, an NCAA title, an ESPY, and NWSL Shields. There is one more possible chance at the elusive NWSL championship looming in the coming weeks; that one trophy she would like to have another crack at.
She also was prone to trying things on the field that could have coaches go a little crazy. Whether it was going for an Olimpico or just letting loose on goal from odd angles and distances, she earned a bit of equity and leeway along the way. After matches when pressed about a particular play, she often spoke of and joked about her always shooting on goal if there were questions as to whether something was service or a shot. “I think just with my general understanding of space and the way that I play, I think they can see that oftentimes it does come off or it is beneficial. And so the couple of times that I need for it to not work, I’ve hopefully earned it. I have to put more chips in the bank than I take out.”
“So I think that’s been a growth for me over the years of when and where to try things, understanding the sort of points in the game or momentum kind of shifts in the game. And when is kind of a safe time to be unsafe. But I think over time it’s just been more beneficial and has come off positive more than not. So I guess I’m in the black still.”
She witnessed first hand her partner Sue Bird’s retirement tour in 2022 in the WNBA.This summer, shortly before the world cup would begin, she announced her own retirement. The announcement squelched questions of whether and turned the tournament and the NWSL late season to a retirement run in. “I’ve had, obviously, the very front row seat to Sue’s retirement, and it’s just been so helpful just to be able to talk about things. And I kind of followed her blueprint in that. So for her to be able to walk me through that, even if it doesn’t really change your feelings in the moment, at least I can understand that someone went through it before me.” The USWNT will give her one last cap as a send off. The Reign club she has been a part of for over a decade was able to prepare for the additional attendance and attention the final matches would bring.
With her college playing days being down I5 from Seattle in Portland, the growth of the rivalry between the Reign and Thorns into a classic derby match has been interesting from all angles. This weekend, barring something postseason happening with brackets, will be the final derby match for her and the Thorns supporters. “It’s going to be a big conflict for them. Said for a long time they love to try to hate us but feel like they love us. Yeah, I feel like it’s always in good jest with a little bit of a jab, but I think they’re going to show up probably even harder for their team. So I always love that. I feel like I have a lot of respect for those fans and how they’ve always showed up and the way that they show up for their club and for their team. But yeah, I hope to send them away sad, but they’ll still be happy.”
There could be five, or up to eight more matches to play. The Reign have that one more Cascadia derby road match, a couple more home matches, and a trip to Chicago to finish out the NWSL regular season. There is a farewell international appearance. Then the NWSL playoffs and the road to San Diego for possibly one more shot at a trophy with the club.
Megan Rapinoe’s last match as a professional soccer player is about a month from now, or just about two months from now, or sometime in between.
