- The Washington Times - Wednesday, July 10, 2019

U.S women’s soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe called for unity amid her feud with President Trump during a victory speech Wednesday on the steps of New York’s city hall. 

“I couldn’t be more proud to be a co-captain with Carli [Lloyd] and Alex [Morgan] with this team. It’s my absolute honor to lead this team out on the field. There’s no other place that I would rather be, even in the presidential race. I’m busy, I’m sorry,” Ms. Rapinoe said Wednesday following a parade for their fourth World Cup win.

A Democratic poll found Ms. Rapinoe would narrowly win a presidential race match up against Mr. Trump.

Ms. Rapinoe and Mr. Trump sparred briefly in June after a months-old video was posted online by Eight by Eight magazine in which she said she wasn’t going to the “f——— White House” if the Americans win the World Cup.

“I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job,” Mr. Trump tweeted then.

Ms. Rapinoe said she’s “sorry for some of the things” she’s said, but added, “it’s time to come together.”

“This is my charge to everyone. We have to be better. We have to love more, hate less. We’ve got to listen more and talk less. We’ve got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility, every single person here, every single person who is not here, every single person who doesn’t want to be here, every single person who agrees and doesn’t agree, it’s our responsibility to make this world a better place,” she said.

Ms. Rapinoe said to CNN Tuesday that she and her teammates will not be going to a potential White House celebration, saying they don’t want their message to “be co-opted or corrupted by this administration.”

She said the team would likely go to Washington and visit Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York and “anyone else that wants to invite us and have a substantive conversation and believe in the same things we believe in.”

The women’s soccer team’s protests of equal pay to their male counterparts also came up during the speeches after U.S. Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro was briefly drowned out by the audience chanting “equal pay.”

“I think he’s with us. I think he’s on the right side of things. I think he’s going to make things right,” Ms. Rapinoe said later.

 

• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.

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