Megan Rapinoe played for the United States Women’s National Team for more than 17 years where she was one of the most accomplished players in USWNT history, helping lead the team to two FIFA Women’s World Cup Championships throughout her career. Still, she recently referred to her time with the team as “the worst job in the world.”
In the new Netflix documentary Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team, Megan Rapinoe explained that the massive amounts of pressure, the high expectations, and the brutal criticism make playing for the United States Women’s National Team “the worst job in the world.”
“I always say it’s the worst job in the world because if you do your job, then you were supposed to, and if you do one hair less, then you are gonna get lambasted for it,” Rapinoe said according to the Washington Examiner.
That was certainly true for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USWNT entered the tournament as the clear-cut favorite to win the championship for an unprecedented third consecutive time. Instead, they failed to win their group and were eliminated in the first match of the knockout round, marking their earliest exit from the World Cup in team history. As a result, the team faced plenty of criticism.
But with the criticism comes the fame and platform, so there is certainly a tradeoff.
