USWNT veterans will have to lean on youth in final World Cup

As it looks to make the United States the first country ever to win three consecutive World Cups, the Women’s National Team will have more fresh faces than it had on either of the previous two winning rosters.

But as Megan Rapinoe smiled and made her announcement last week, she effectively shifted the focus back on the players who’ve long been mainstays.

Rapinoe, 38, revealed that she is retiring at the end of the NWSL season, meaning this will be her fourth and final World Cup.

“I could have never imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me,” Rapinoe told reporters. “I feel so honored to be able to have represented this country and this federation for so many years. It’s truly been the greatest thing that I’ve ever done.”

Beyond just representing U.S. Soccer “for so many years,” Rapinoe has defined an iconic era of champions now entering their last dance together.

She starred on the 2015 and 2019 World Cup winning teams, as well as the side that finished as runner-up in 2011.

In 2015, Rapinoe scored two goals and provided two assists.

Four years later, she scored six goals, tied for most in the tournament, and recorded two assists en route to being awarded the Golden Ball as the best player at the tournament.

Off the field, Rapinoe has been the face of the team and served as its de facto spokesperson.

She’s long been outspoken about equal pay and LGBTQ+ rights, leading the team to use its collective power and win landmark legislation.

“She’s just a great player that’s done so much for this program, so much for soccer in general,” Alex Morgan, Rapinoe’s longtime teammate, told reporters recently. “I’m just really happy for her that she’s going to go out with a bang, hopefully …

“Now we have to go win the whole damn thing.”

Along with Rapinoe, Morgan has been a leading figure in the championship core.

While Rapinoe, as usual, and her swan song are the headlines surrounding the USWNT, it’s a microcosm of the unit she’s for so long led.

Although the other members of the veteran group will seemingly wait to make decisions about their futures, this will likely be the last go-around together for a majority of the players who have ruled international soccer for nearly a decade.

Morgan and Kelley O’Hara are 34. Alyssa Naeher is 35. Julie Ertz is 31.

All were members of the last two World Cup sides, and will play pivotal roles again.

As will 31-year-old Crystal Dunn, who was part of the 2019 team.

Perhaps a few will be back for the 2027 World Cup.

But as a group fans have for so long identified with, this year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand is likely it.

Making history would certainly be a fitting way to go out.

“[Rapinoe’s] impact is felt far deeper than just on this team,” Naeher said recently. “And I think the thing that’s special about her is she takes on such a role, because she is such a big presence, she’s willing to do a lot of the extra. She’ll do a lot more of the interviews, a lot more of the media, she’ll take on the hard questions, the difficult things.

“That then allows other people to not have that have to be a stressful thing or not have to be a factor, and she lets them be them.”

The group of veterans of course possess the championship blueprint.

But to capture a historic three-peat now in the back end of their careers, they’ll likely have to lean on the team’s next generation field with budding stars.

Sophia Smith, 22, and Trinity Rodman, 21, are two burgeoning talents ready to leave their mark on the tournament.

Naomi Girma, 23, is primed to be the team’s next defensive star.

Even Alyssa Thompson, at just 18, could find a key role.

Yes, they’ll be chasing history.

But along the way, maybe the greatest parting gift Rapinoe and her crop of champions can leave behind is mentoring the team’s newcomers and setting them up for success.

Because they’ll soon have big shoes to fill.

“They’re obviously just so talented, all the younger players,” Rapinoe said. “They’re so much better than we were at that age, just so much more advanced. They’re going to be so huge for us in this tournament.”