Megan Rapinoe captains the US in her ultimate match for the nationwide staff… however she doesn’t sing in the course of the nationwide anthem

Megan Rapinoe has not been singing the nationwide anthem for years – a follow she began as a part of her protest in opposition to racial inequality. On Sunday, the final time she took the sector for the US, that did not change.

Rapinoe was named captain for the staff and began for the US within the ultimate sport of her illustrious and at occasions controversial profession.

Her captaincy is partially an ode to her profession coming to an finish and it is partially a formality: the USA nearly all the time offers the armband to gamers celebrating their two hundredth cap, an accomplishment Rapinoe earned on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Strolling out onto the pitch at Chicago‘s Soldier Discipline, Rapinoe had a second of honor earlier than the group the place her speedy household and her fiancée – retired WNBA legend Sue Hen – greeted her.

After the pomp and the circumstance, Rapinoe stood with a courageous face and didn’t sing because the American nationwide anthem performed.

Megan Rapinoe stood silent as she captained the US in her farewell match Sunday

It is Rapinoe’s ultimate match for the USA – the top of an illustrious and controversial profession

She was honored earlier than kickoff – being greeted by her household and her fiancée, Sue Hen

Only a few of her teammates joined her – a follow that was been scrutinized extensively by conservative pundits and media throughout the nation throughout this summer season’s World Cup. 

However that criticism was hardly heard when the US males’s staff stayed stoic throughout their World Cup in 2022, nor was it voiced when the USA baseball staff was silent on the 2023 World Baseball Traditional.

Quite, plenty of that criticism has been voiced due to the activism of this staff and, particularly, Rapinoe.

She beforehand stated in an interview with Yahoo Sports activities in 2019 that she would ‘in all probability by no means sing the nationwide anthem once more’.

That is partly as a result of her protests for racial equality – which included her turning into the primary white athlete to kneel whereas it performed.

Rapinoe initially made that call in assist of the protests being completed by NFL participant Colin Kaepernick.