By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
    Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
    May 14, 2025
    Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
    Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
    May 13, 2025
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    May 13, 2025
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: + Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: $1+ Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    May 13, 2025
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    May 13, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) News: 4,812 Bitcoin Purchased
    Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) News: 4,812 Bitcoin Purchased
    May 14, 2025
    BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
    BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
    May 14, 2025
    Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
    Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
    May 14, 2025
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    May 13, 2025
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    May 13, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: Megan Rapinoe says USWNT is feeling early World Cup pressure, but ‘hell yeah’ they’re used to it
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > Sports News > Megan Rapinoe says USWNT is feeling early World Cup pressure, but ‘hell yeah’ they’re used to it
Megan Rapinoe says USWNT is feeling early World Cup pressure, but ‘hell yeah’ they’re used to it
Sports News

Megan Rapinoe says USWNT is feeling early World Cup pressure, but ‘hell yeah’ they’re used to it

Published July 30, 2023
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

United States’ Megan Rapinoe follows play during the second half of the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer match between the United States and Vietnam at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The 2023 World Cup was barely a week old when the U.S. women’s national team began to feel it. The Americans felt it during Thursday’s 1-1 draw with the Netherlands, and afterward. They are now facing “a must-perform,” as Megan Rapinoe said, in Tuesday’s group finale against Portugal (3 a.m. ET, Fox) from which they need a result to advance; a loss would almost certainly eliminate them.

So “of course,” Rapinoe said Sunday, “there’s a little bit of anxiousness.”

But of course, she also explained throughout a free-wheeling 25-minute news conference replete with laughs and F-bombs, the USWNT is used to this.

“I think being on the U.S. women’s national team, it kinda always feels like this,” Rapinoe said.

“We go into these moments like, ‘Hell yeah,’” she said. “This is exactly where we wanna be.”

They are part of a program that has made pressure inescapable and inevitable. They have made it so both by winning and by talking. In 2019, Rapinoe admitted, with an equal-pay lawsuit on the docket and with bold comments spilling out of their mouths every other day, they felt: “Well, we have to win.” They never quite explicated it. They didn’t even really speak about it as a team. But they understood, Rapinoe said: “This is kind of like a must-win World Cup for us.”

And they won it, because they’re accustomed to pressure. They know how to attack and embrace it. In 2019, they even fed off it.

“I think it did give us confidence,” Rapinoe said. “I think it pressured us, but I think we also knew that we could handle it, it was almost like a mandatory upping of our level, to be able to match everything that we were saying off the field. In so many ways, we were betting on ourselves, and kind of laying the bet out early. And it was on us to prove it.

“Without the winning, you don’t get all these microphones. Without the winning, you don’t get the platform, you don’t get the media, you don’t get the eyes, you don’t get the fans, you don’t get the ability to say what you want all the time.”

Four years later, their vibe is different. They have been less brash, less outspoken. So, Rapinoe was asked: Do they still feel all of that? Is this World Cup a must-win?

“We feel like we have to win everything all the time,” she said. “That’s the expectation for ourselves. That’s the expectation playing for the U.S. women’s national team.”

The pressure, this time around, comes one round early, and comes from two uninspiring performances. They “weren’t in sync,” against the Netherlands, midfielder Andi Sullivan admitted Saturday. They’re “unsatisfied with the way that we’ve played,” Rapinoe said. With 4 points, and with Portugal on 3, they need a draw to secure a place in the Round of 16. They might need a multi-goal win to top the group and avoid a matchup with Sweden.

Which is why they feel anxious. But they’ve created an environment where channeling it into positive energy is the norm. “I think that is something that always gets passed down through the generations of this team,” Rapinoe said. It gets passed down via attention to detail in training, via off-field habits, via preparation, all of which allows them to play free in the most pressure-packed moments of their lives.

Those moments have perhaps arrived earlier than expected in 2023, but “I think everybody’s looking at this like, ‘Let’s go,’” Rapinoe said.

If they lose Tuesday, they would go down as by far the worst USWNT ever. But even that has been the case entering all but a handful of the World Cup games they’ve ever played. They have never finished worse than third at this tournament. Even in 2011, trailing Brazil in the waning moments of a quarterfinal, Rapinoe remembers thinking: “F***, we’re gonna be the worst team ever in the history of the U.S. women’s national team. This is gonna be terrible.”

She responded by hitting a majestic cross to Abby Wambach, who tied the game with a header. The USWNT won on penalties, then advanced to the final. It hadn’t trailed in a knockout-round game until the match versus the Netherlands.

Soon after recalling that moment, Rapinoe was asked: If this 2023 team doesn’t win it all, how should it be judged?

She responded with five words: “I’ve never thought about that.”

#Megan #Rapinoe #USWNT #feeling #early #World #Cup #pressure #hell #yeah #theyre

TAGGED:CupEarlyfeelinghellMeganpressureRapinoetheyreUSWNTWorldyeah
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Artifact’s App Forces an AI Snoop Dogg to Read the News to You Artifact’s App Forces an AI Snoop Dogg to Read the News to You
Next Article I stayed in Ibiza’s famous glass-walled bedroom – people banged on the windows all night but it was completely free I stayed in Ibiza’s famous glass-walled bedroom – people banged on the windows all night but it was completely free
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) News: 4,812 Bitcoin Purchased
Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) News: 4,812 Bitcoin Purchased
Cryptocurrency
BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, ADA, DOGE, PI, LEO, HBAR
Cryptocurrency
Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina’s party barred from election as party registration suspended
World News
Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
Altcoins’ roaring returns and falling USDT stablecoin dominance suggest ‘altseason’ is here
Cryptocurrency
Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job
World News
How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
Cryptocurrency
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

Recent Match Report – Invincibles vs Originals 13th Match 2023
Sports News

Recent Match Report – Invincibles vs Originals 13th Match 2023

August 10, 2023
WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship: How to watch the Lynx vs. Liberty game tonight
Sports News

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship: How to watch the Lynx vs. Liberty game tonight

June 25, 2024
ICC Board lifts suspension on Sri Lanka Cricket
Sports News

ICC Board lifts suspension on Sri Lanka Cricket

January 28, 2024
FBI wrong about assassination attempt, Trump’s doctor says — RT World News
World News

FBI wrong about assassination attempt, Trump’s doctor says — RT World News

July 27, 2024

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?