Conservative media stars and personalities — together with former President Donald Trump — are celebrating after the U.S. ladies’s nationwide soccer group misplaced to Sweden within the spherical of 16 on Sunday.
Though the U.S. dominated the sport, hitting the woodwork on a number of events and forcing 5 saves from Sweden’s goalkeeper, Sweden won 5-4 on penalties after Lina Hurtig’s spot kick crossed the road by a fraction of a centimeter.
The loss was the earliest World Cup exit ever for the group, which had gained the previous two tournaments.
Outstanding figures on the correct — most notably the previous president and present Republican presidential front-runner — took intention on the group following the match, particularly veteran Megan Rapinoe, who missed an important penalty kick.
In a put up on Fact Social, Trump mentioned the U.S. group’s loss to Sweden “is totally emblematic of what’s taking place to the our as soon as nice Nation below Crooked Joe Biden.”
“A lot of our gamers had been overtly hostile to America — No different nation behaved in such a fashion, and even shut,” he wrote on Sunday. “WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Good shot Megan, the USA goes to Hell!!!”
Former Fox Information anchor Megyn Kelly additionally took intention at Rapinoe on her podcast.
“Lengthy-time group chief and activist Megan Rapinoe was smiling and laughing to herself after lacking the essential penalty kick. It was general simply an embarrassing efficiency for this group from the beginning,” she mentioned this week on “The Megyn Kelly Present.”
“They donned the uniforms of the USA of America however they refused to honor something we stand for. And subsequently, I am thrilled they misplaced, good, I’m glad you went down. You don’t help America, I don’t help you,” Kelly mentioned.
Fox Information host Laura Ingraham echoed Kelly’s sentiments on Fox Information’ “The Ingraham Angle” Monday night time.
“I do know a whole lot of of us are offended that anybody could possibly be joyful about this end result however let this be a lesson for Rapinoe and a whole lot of her teammates: If you happen to don’t help America or at the very least usually are not perceived to help America, don’t count on for America to blindly help you both,” Ingraham mentioned.
Rapinoe has been a member of the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Workforce since 2006 and has helped the group win two Olympic medals and two World Cup championships. Off the sector, she’s nearly as well-known for her activism on behalf of LGBTQ rights and ladies’s equality.
In 2016, Rapinoe and 4 different U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Workforce gamers filed an Equal Employment Alternative Fee grievance in opposition to the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging gender discrimination. Then in 2019, 28 members of the group, together with Rapinoe, filed the same lawsuit, citing years of gender discrimination in pay, medical therapy and general workload.
The group of 5 gamers reached a settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation in February, receiving $24 million and securing an settlement from the federation to pay women and men equally in all exhibition video games, or friendlies, and tournaments.
Fox Information host Jesse Watters on Monday criticized Rapinoe for “consistently kneeling” in the course of the nationwide anthem and calling out the U.S. for oppression, racial profiling and police brutality.
“Her abrasive and self-centered fashion was divisive,” Watters mentioned.
“When U.S. ladies’s soccer performs within the the World Cup, we count on the group to place its greatest foot ahead — however the kneeling, the no hand on the guts, celebrating ties — didn’t meet the excessive expectations the American public has for our athletes to conduct themselves,” he mentioned. “There’s additionally a technique to go about getting a pay increase. Injecting sexism and ignoring arithmetic leaves a foul style in folks’s mouths.”
Watters added: “People are dying to be pleased with our athletes, particularly ones who’re pleased with our nation, however it’s laborious to root for an athlete who disparages our nation in entrance of the world once more, and once more, and once more.”
