Two-time World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe mentioned she was devastated after her ultimate skilled look got here to a crushing early finish.
The Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League ultimate between OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC was extremely anticipated as an emotional farewell for the 2019 Ballon d’Or winner and her former US girls’s nationwide workforce mate Ali Krieger.
However the retirement celebration got here to an abrupt finish because the 38-year-old went down within the third minute with a non-contact harm, greedy at her proper calf earlier than limping off the sphere as followers at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium gave her a standing ovation.
“The worst doable final result,” the veteran midfielder advised reporters after the match. “Clearly, devastating to exit of the ultimate so early.”
Rapinoe mentioned she was counting on her trademark sense of humour to beat the frustration, as she believes she tore her Achilles tendon however would await additional testing.
“You do not all the time get to have the right ending,” she mentioned.
Gotham FC defender Krieger ran and supplied her pal an embrace as she exited the pitch.
Gotham went on to beat Reign 2-1 to gather their first championship title.
The 38-year-old Olympic gold medallist was sidelined this yr with a calf harm however her fast exit from her ultimate skilled match nonetheless left followers and fellow US girls’s nationwide workforce veterans shocked.
“Completely gutted,” retired US nice Mia Hamm wrote on the social media platform X, previously often called Twitter.
Rapinoe, who alongside along with her nationwide team-mates suffered a shock early exit from the Ladies’s World Cup this yr, mentioned she had an general sense of “peace” regardless of the harm that marred her ultimate sport.
“It is clearly disappointing to exit like that,” she mentioned. “I really feel nice about my profession. I really feel so fortunate and so grateful to have performed so long as I performed.”