Former US Women's Soccer team captain Megan Rapinoe ended her final ever game early after she reportedly tore her Achilles tendon in the sixth minute of the match between her side, OL Reign, and Gotham FC in this year's National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) championship on Saturday (November 11).
Gotham won the match 2-1, Fox News reported.
Rapinoe tried to laugh off what seemed to be her anticlimactic exit from the field, but pictures and videos of the match saw her visibly upset and emotional.
Rapinoe on Early Final Match Exit: "It's F***ed Up."
During the post-match press conference, Rapinoe said she was going to get what she called the "Aaron Rodgers treatment" to try to recover from her injury, adding that she would attempt to contact Rodgers or his surgeon about the matter.
"I'm not a religious person or anything and if there was a God, like, this is proof that there isn't," Rapinoe said. "This is f***ed up. It's just f***ed up. Six minutes in and I eat my Achilles [tendon]."
Before leaving the field, she embraced former US Soccer teammate Ali Krieger, who played for Gotham FC and was also playing in her final professional game.
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Controversial On and Off the Field
Rapinoe stayed with OL Reign during her whole NWSL career. She finished with four goals and five assists in 15 matches in 2023.
Beyond her club, she led Team USA in the FIFA Women's World Cup, winning the tournament in 2015 and 2019, before getting eliminated in the 2023 knockout stages after Sweden defeated them 5-4 in penalty kicks after a scoreless draw.
After her exit from the national team, Rapinoe was replaced by Lindsey Horan and Alex Morgan as co-captains.
Aside from playing association football, Rapinoe has been famous and notorious for her LGBT+ activism.
She came out as a lesbian in 2012 and was eventually linked to former basketball player Sue Bird, who comforted her during Saturday's game.
