United States soccer legend Alexi Lalas believes the women’s team have become ‘unlikeable’ after a section of players failed to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the World Cup, saying ‘politics and stances’ are hurting their image.
The USA were knocked out of the World Cup on Sunday after a dramatic penalty shootout defeat to Sweden, but before the game started, six players chose not to sing the national anthem.
The controversy has seen a number of voices speaking out against the team – with American media personality Megyn Kelly saying she hoped the players lost to Sweden and called them ‘shameful’.
In previous Women’s World Cup group ties against Vietnam, The Netherlands and Portugal, the majority of Vlatko Andonovski’s side have not sung along to the national anthem.
Now Lalas – who played 96 times for the USA national team between 1991 and 1998 – has joined the debate, claiming that the USA women’s side were now seen as ‘unlikeable’ and risk becoming ‘irrelevent’ if they continue to make ‘polarizing’ political stances in the future.
‘Don’t kill the messenger, he wrote on Twitter – in response to a fan claiming Americans had ‘celebrated a loss’. Megan Rapinoe – who was seen laughing after she missed a penalty against Sweden – has been one of the focal targets of critics during this World Cup, with Kelly calling her the ‘leader’ inspiring players to not sing the anthem.
‘She’s poisoned the entire team against the country for which they play. I don’t know about you, but I’m not rooting for them. I’m not with them. I hope they lose…It’s shameful. These girls are shameful. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
‘They won’t sing the national anthem. Half of them won’t put their hands over their hearts. Even the ones who are singing are half-assing it. They clearly don’t want to be doing it. I mean, they look like they don’t even want to be there. It’s like some sort of inconvenience to be representing the USA.’
‘Megan Rapinoe, she’s the leader of all this… She’s not a starter. So that’s why she’s not on camera when they’re doing the national anthem, but she’s behind a lot of this,’ Kelly said while hosting the Megyn Kelly Show. Even former US President Donald Trump waded into the row, taking aim at Rapinoe for her missed penalty and claiming some of the players were ‘openly hostile to America’.
‘The “shocking and totally unexpected” loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden,’ wrote Trump on social media. ‘Many of our players were openly hostile to America – No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close.
