Game’s greats set to retire
Generational talents Marta, Christine Sinclair, and Megan Rapinoe have all played in their final Women’s World Cup and are leaving the game in a much different place than when they started.
“It’s emotional. Those are some of the greatest football players of all time, players that I’ve looked up to,” said United States captain Lindsey Horan as her eyes filled with tears. “Pinoe, Sinc, both of them I got to play with. Marta, one of the GOATs. It’s hard as a football player to see these guys exiting like this, but look at how much they did for women’s football. Them on the field, their character, everything.
They’re the reason we’re all here today.”
Marta, the Brazilian player once dubbed “Pele in Skirts” by the legendary Pele himself, raised the profile of women’s soccer in her home country with her dazzling play that she learned from boys on the streets of Dois Riachos.
The 37-year-old was tearful when Brazil was surprisingly eliminated from the tournament in the group stage. It was her sixth World Cup and she fell short of becoming the first player — male or female — to score in all six.
“Women’s football doesn’t end here. Women’s football in Brazil doesn’t end here. We need to understand this,” she said.
Marta has scored 115 goals for Brazil, including a record 17 goals at the World Cup. She has been named the FIFA women’s player of the year a record six times.
Rapinoe, 38, announced before the World Cup that it would be her last. She will play out the season with her club team, OL Reign, before retiring from the game.
She finishes as one of the most decorated players ever. In addition to two World Cup titles, and Olympic gold and bronze medals, she won the prestigious Ballon d’Or as well as a FIFA best player award. She was also awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her social justice work.
Rapinoe’s World Cup career ended with a missed penalty. The United States were sent out of the tournament in a shootout in the Round of 16 with Sweden after a scoreless draw. It was the team’s earliest ever exit.
Rapinoe posted heartfelt farewell on Instagram on Thursday.
“This group was so very special, and I’m immensely proud of every single one of us,” she wrote. “This team is in special hands as I walk away, just like it always was, and always will be. Because that is what this team is all about. We lay it out on the line every single time. Fighting with everything that we have, for everything we deserve, for every person we possibly can.
“It has been my honor to play for our country, with so many incredible women, for so many years. Thank you, a million times over.”
Sinclair’s future with the Canadian national team is unsettled, although at 40 this was assuredly her final World Cup.
Canada is set to face Jamaica on Sept. 26 in Toronto for a spot in the Paris Olympics next year, and Sinclair hasn’t said whether she’ll play.
Sinclair has scored a record 190 international goals, most among men and women.