The tone of the U.S. women's 3-0 win over Colombia to seal their advancement to the World Cup quarterfinals tried very hard to be patriotic. The team invited members of the U.S. military stationed at the Army's base in Heidelberg, Germany to their training sessions and the game itself and when Heather O'Reilly scored a wonder goal in the 12th minute, the whole team lined up to salute the troops (photo below).
Then, when Megan Rapinoe scored shortly after entering the match at halftime, she made the unusual and goofy move of picking up a pitchside microphone and singing/shouting "Born in the U.S.A." into it. Perhaps she was providing a subtle counterbalance by invoking the often misunderstood lyrics of Bruce Springsteen. And perhaps she wasn't.
Rapinoe had been a regular starter coming into the tournament, but in the first two games in Germany she's come off the bench and made a case for why she should still be in the starting XI. By picking up that mic and singing into it, she seemed to be saying "remember me?" as much as she was paying tribute to The Boss.
Next up for the U.S. is a match against Sweden to decide which side wins Group C. Maybe Rapinoe will break out some ABBA if she scores in that one, too.
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