The U.S. women’s soccer team has been eliminated from the 2023 FIFA World Cup competition. Megan Rapinoe missed making a goal in a shoot-out that ended in a 5-4 victory for Sweden over the United States.

Oddly enough, when she eliminated her team from the competition, she smiled. She was one of three U.S. players to miss a penalty in a shoot-out after the game was scoreless in regular time and in extra time. For the first time in the team’s history, the U.S. national team left the competition in the round of 16.

The final moment of Megan Rapinoe’s soccer career was this missed penalty kick. pic.twitter.com/wBk8ep1HCe

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 6, 2023

She was asked about what she was thinking as she stepped up to take her shot and she said she was sure she would make the shot. Rapinoe never lacks for self-confidence. What did she think when she missed?

“A sick joke,” Rapinoe added. “That’s why I had that smile on my face. Like, ‘You got to be f—ing kidding me. I’m going to miss the penalty?’ I honestly can’t remember the last I missed a penalty. Not in a game for a very long time.”

“But that’s the way it goes. I’ve definitely thought about that before — it always a possibility when you step up there. But I thought I was going to make it. I thought everyone was going to make it.”

Rapinoe is getting lots of blowback on social media over her weird smile after she failed to score. It looked like she was laughing. Whatever she was doing didn’t sit well with soccer fans. It was her last game in her career. She’s retiring. Good riddance. She has been toxic for the team.

She chose to be a political activist and took her activism onto the soccer field. She took a knee during the national anthem when that was popular. She refuses to place her hand over her heart as the anthem is played. Rapinoe makes a point of saying she does these things because she isn’t proud of how the United States does things. Or something. She’s an LGBTQ activist, too, and a darling in Democrat politics. Joe and Jill Biden have welcomed her to the White House several times and the president presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her activism in 2022. The photo above is when she was so honored.

The problem for the U.S. women’s team is that Rapinoe made everything all about herself and they allowed her to do it. She was outspoken about equal pay for women in soccer. That denied the reality that women’s soccer is not as popular as men’s soccer and, therefore, doesn’t make as much money. Most Americans do not watch soccer. I don’t. The only time I was interested in soccer was when our son was a little guy and played. Also, we had season tickets to a minor league men’s soccer team in our town and enjoyed going as a family activity.

Rapinoe dragged the team into political territory that fans don’t appreciate. Other team members followed her lead and kneeled or stopped putting their hands over their hearts. Americans lost interest in the team. Rapinoe showed what a true hypocrite she is when she came out in favor of men playing in women’s sports. Conveniently, she decided to weigh in on that subject as she retires. She would have been shouting from the rooftops if she ever had to play with transgender soccer players. Now, the person who allegedly stood up for women in sports is ok with eliminating women in sports.

Rapinoe does all the things for attention. She craves it. And, here she is at the end of her career and karma is a bitch. The last action she took as a player went so wrong that the team lost to Sweden. It was the earliest elimination ever for the team.

She ended up making it impossible for Americans to take an interest in the team. She’s too toxic. Her smug arrogance and ugly words took a toll. There is hardly any buzz this year about the team. Not many people care that they have been eliminated. That’s a shame for the other players who worked hard and didn’t embarrass our country on the world stage. Maybe next year they will be able to just play their sport and tune out all the distractions.

I always pull for Team USA. All sports. And I really don’t take joy in the earliest elimination ever for the USWNT.

But this team came to be defined by arrogant celebrity activists who went out of their way to exhibit shame in the US, begin the process of destroying their own…

— Will Cain (@willcain) August 6, 2023

There is no need to semi-apologize for not feeling bad for the team’s loss. This is what happens when one member decides to be the star and the others follow. Americans don’t want politics in sports. We watch sports to forget about world events and everyday troubles for a little while. Rapinoe did not do the team any favors with her political activism.

She showed some gratitude for her career after the loss.

“I feel so lucky and so grateful to play as long as I have and been on as many successful teams as I have, and be a part of a very special generation that has done so much on and off the field,” Rapinoe said. “It would be hard to feel disappointed in any type of way.

“Obviously there’s the immediate disappointment of being out of the tournament but I’m OK. I’m ready in a lot of ways to be done and I feel at peace with that.”

Rapinoe was moved to tears when asked to reflect on her World Cup.

“I’ve loved every bit of my career,” she said. “I’ll miss it to death, but it also feels like the right time and that’s OK.”

“It’s some dark humor, me missing the penalty at the end of this game,” she added, laughing.

Or Karma.