USWNT Star Megan Rapinoe Set To Retire At End Of NWSL Season

Breaking news here on CBS Sports HQ from the world of soccer where OL Reign star Megan Rapinoe say she will be retiring at the end of the NWSL season. Rapinoe is of course well known for her time with the U.S. Women's National Team where she's won two World Cup titles as well as a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. Rapinoe will be part of this year's World Cup team which starts play later this month as the Stars and Stripes try for an unprecedented third straight title. And for more on this announcement let's bring in one of our women's soccer analyst Sandra Herrera who's also part of the Attacking Third podcast. Sandra first your reaction to this announcement by Megan Rapinoe are you surprised or was this kind of expected? I think now that the news is officially out there and it's kind of settling in for everyone maybe it's not super shocking considering considering 38 year old midfielder has announced her retirement but I don't think that makes it any less sentimental. This is a prolific player who's been with the team for several years now at this point and I think maybe you never really know until you know and I like that that was a bit of the energy coming out of her press conference today with head coach Blacko Andinovsky that part of this was motivated by the fact that she did just want that decision to be out there to just have all the headlines kind of pass them once they go into this group stage in the World Cup and say yes this is gonna be my last go-around with the team and I will hang up the cleats after this NWSL season is complete. We've got their final tune-up game coming up on Sunday so it's nice to get it out of the way before the tune-up game and then of course don't have to focus on it you can just focus on the World Cup tournament which comes up after that. Rapinoe I mean a great player an outspoken player what do you think the legacy of Megan Rapinoe is both at the NWSL and the international level? I really think it's incomparable honestly I think you've got a player here that has a lot of accolades on the pitch but has had such an impact off of it as well so multiple World Cup titles, Olympic gold medalists, goals, assists, iconic highlight reels across her career and that's not just at the international level she's quite accomplished at the club level as well winning three shields with her longtime club OL Reign and this is a player I think that folks will look back at sort of say maybe broke the mold a bit of what an iconic legendary player is for the United States women's national team that it actually maybe just isn't about how many titles or trophies or medals you pick up along the way but how you affect and impact your teammates through the journey of your career. Part of it too was the fact she had such a social impact as well part of that fight for equal pay with the US Federation when you look at her biggest impact in the women's game was it on the field or was it off of it? It's hard to gauge I think when we're looking at those accolades and you sort of list off the bullet points of titles and trophies and medals I think you can also kind of compare that and create bullet points for for all the things that she accomplished off of the pitch I mean this is this is a player who made headlines I think depending on who you asked they were either positive or negative as the first non-black female athlete to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and then went on to be a very public face for the team and their open litigation against US soccer in the fight for pay equity and you sort of look at that very very long tenure that window of time specifically over the last cycle from the build-up to the 2019 World Cup into now in this 2023 World Cup everything that this team has accomplished and how she has been a very vocal component of that and it kind of all comes together and perhaps a nice neatly wrapped package little type of a gift in the form of a historic collective bargaining agreement in which again all of the goals that they had set out for themselves were essentially achieved and obtained through this collective bargaining agreement alongside the United States men's national team and they're going into this World Cup where a lot of the things that they fought for possibly come and kick into gear and get triggered through this CBA and this upcoming World Cup so I think as we sort of list off all of these bullet points of all of the titles and all of the records that she has set on the pitch you can make a long list of those as well off of the pitch yeah in terms of what she did on the pitch and then the social impact she had not a lot of athletes have had that kind of impact and no matter what sport they play as you mentioned she kind of broke the mold there when it comes to that certainly in the women's game she's no shrinking violet this we know so I wouldn't expect her to fade into obscurity once she does dip into retirement what do you think that Megan Rapinoe does next you know I still think she's she's an advocate in the face for not just you know women's soccer or the game itself but for everything that she you know stood up for during her time as an active player with the team she was you know the first openly publicly gay player on this team when she came out in 2012 and then she's gone on to advocate for the community for athletes for teammates in her time as a United States women's national team player and club player and end up yourself so I would imagine it's gonna be a wide-ranging large umbrella of things that she finds herself still involved with and whether that's continuing promoting the women's game in soccer it's also going to include all of the social causes and issues that she holds dear certainly hope to keep seeing her involved in the game she is women's soccer analyst Sandra Herrera joining us here on HQ to discuss the announcement that one of the all-time greats of women's soccer Megan Rapinoe retiring at the end of this NWSL season thanks for hopping on with us in short notice Sandra always good to see you and Sandra's part of the attacking third podcast which of course they'll be discussing this retirement announcement from Megan Rapinoe at length and of course getting ready for the Women's World Cup which which is starting right around the corner the US playing their final tune-up game on Sunday against Wales and then it's off to the World Cup you can download and follow the attacking third podcast wherever you get your podcasts or scan that QR code