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Megan Rapinoe fires back at Trump’s ‘fake’ attack on USWNT’s World Cup loss

Former president has had running feud with Rapinoe since she said in 2019 that she would never visit him at White House

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Wednesday 23 August 2023 23:47 BST
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Megan Rapinoe has fired back at Donald Trump and his “fake” criticism of the US Women’s National Soccer Team’s World Cup loss.

The squad was bounced out of the tournament in the round of 16, its earliest ever exit despite winning the last two competitions.

After the team crashed out with a 5-4 loss to Sweden on penalties, the former president took to Truth Social to blame “wokeness” and Joe Biden for the loss.

And he also took time to troll Rapinoe, who missed a penalty in the match – and who took issue with the criticism.

“It always is, because what he’s saying is fake. It’s a compilation of hit words and hot-button words that don’t actually make any sort of sense or square with reality at all… I think, just in general, the way that our team was spoken about over the course of the tournament, it was fake,” Rapinoe told The Atlantic.

“And it didn’t make sense to me: In 2019, we were ultra-confident, ultra-swaggy – and won everything. And even though we won, we did it in bad taste, according to our critics.

“This time, we weren’t confident enough, and we don’t have the right ‘mentality.’ And so we lost. It’s just so disingenuous. There’s no way for us to win, and there’s no way for us to lose.”

Mr Trump has had a running feud with Rapinoe since she said in 2019 that she would never visit the White House to meet with him if the team won the World Cup.

“The “shocking and totally unexpected” loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden,” he fumed on Truth Social after the loss.

“Many of our players were openly hostile to America - No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.”

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