International Football
FRANCE 2019: US SKIPPER, RAPINOE REBELS AGAINST AMERICAN ANTHEM
The US team may be making waves at the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, but the skipper of the team, Megan Rapinoe has vowed never to sing the American anthem.
US set a new goal record at the
28-year old competition after beating Thailand 13-0 on Tuesday. The skipper of
the side who also scored goal number nine to bring her haul to 46 in 155
international appearances does not sing the national anthem or put her hand
over her chest when the anthem is rendered at matches involving the team.
According to an American publication, Aol.com, she probably never will sing the anthem again. At matches, the skipper’s unflinching face and pursed lips have become object of stories.
The 33-year-old winger explained them at length in an feature news by Yahoo Sports last month.
For Rapinoe, the anthem is a “somber moment” for a “peaceful protest” of inequality and injustice throughout the United States.
It’s inequality and injustice she has been aware of for years now, even as she proudly sang the anthem prior to the summer of 2016. But that summer, she had what she calls an “awakening.” She was “very much inspired” by Colin Kaepernick and his protest of racial injustice and police brutality.
Around that time, “the whole meaning of the anthem changed dramatically for me,” Rapinoe told Yahoo Sports. And she came to a realization: “I need to do something.”
So, days after Kaepernick first dropped to a knee, Rapinoe did as well.
After she knelt during the anthem at a national team game for the first time, U.S. Soccer released a statement condemning her actions. The statement called the playing of the anthem “an opportunity … to reflect upon the liberties and freedom we all appreciate in this country.”
But Rapinoe’s point is precisely that we don’t all appreciate those freedoms. Many minorities and members of marginalized groups don’t.
As she wrote weeks after she first knelt, her protest was about “over-policing” and “racial profiling,” about “ensur[ing] that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country.”
Her choice to not sing the anthem is essentially an extension of that. U.S. Soccer eventually adopted a rule prohibiting players from kneeling before national team games. Rapinoe, who calls the rule “cowardly” and “backwards,” now clasps her hands behind her back and stares straight ahead, expressionless, instead.
“I haven’t experienced police brutality, or racism, in that way,” she told Yahoo Sports of the inspiration for her protests. “But knowing that it obviously happens, and knowing that it’s a very real thing, and that there’s something I can do to lend to that movement, or lend to those voices, or to support them, that’s important. You don’t have to understand everything fully in a personal way. That’s impossible. But that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing. It doesn’t mean that you can’t believe what people are saying.”
Rapinoe believes them, and believes many problems at the crux of Kaepernick’s protest remain unsolved. Which is why she no longer sings.
Back in October, during our first interview for the feature, I asked her what, if anything, could compel her to sing again.
“It would take a lot,” she responded. “It would take criminal justice reform. It would take the huge inequality gap that we have to be much better. It would take a lot of progress in LGBTQ rights. We just have such a disparity in this country in so many different ways, inequality in so many different ways.”
And that is why, as she told Yahoo Sports: “I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart. I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.”
Two Moroccan players from top-flight soccer side Ittihad Tanger have been missing at sea since Saturday after strong currents drifted their small yacht, a club official said on Sunday.
They were in a group of five players from the club who went cruising off the northern city of Tangier when strong currents and heavy winds drifted their yacht away as they were swimming in deep waters, club deputy president Anass Mrabet told Reuters.
“Three players have already been rescued on Saturday, while research is still ongoing for the missing Salman Harraq and Abdellatif Akhrif,” he said.
The players did not have buoys on them when they jumped from the small yacht to swim, he said citing recounts by rescued players.
While Akhrif, 24, is already a full member of the squad, Harraq, 18, was about to move up to the senior team this year, Mrabet added.
Ittihad Tanger have been in the Moroccan top flight since 2015 and won the league title for the first and only time in their history in the 2017-18 season. However, they have struggled in the lower half of the standings in recent years.
-Reuters
FIFA will host its first ever FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager this year to crown the best virtual manager on the highly-popular video game, world soccer’s governing body said on Thursday.
FIFA is partnering with Sports Interactive, the developers of the game that has sold millions of copies and has also been used by several football clubs to scout players and opponents thanks to its extensive database.
Players will compete for $100,000 in prize money in the final event from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.
“This competition requires participants to demonstrate a profound understanding of football strategy and tactics,” said former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is the ambassador for the esports event.
“Success demands not only mastery of game mechanics but also in-depth football knowledge, making this format a fascinating blend.”
FIFA said in the inaugural year of the event, selected member associations will be invited to be represented at the final event.
Member associations from all six confederations are expected to be invited while players can sign up on FIFA’s website.
-Reuters
Former Italy international Roberto Baggio was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint at his home in northern Italy while watching his country’s match against Spain in the Euro 2024 tournament on Thursday, local police said.
Burglars broke into Baggio’s house near Vicenza, hit him on the head with a gun butt and locked him and his family in a room while they stole jewellery, watches and cash, daily Il Corriere della Sera reported. It said he suffered a deep wound.
“Luckily, the violence I suffered only resulted in a few stitches, bruises and a lot of fear. Now it is to overcome the fear,” Baggio was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA.
Baggio, 57, played for clubs including Juventus (JUVE.MI), opens new tab, AC Milan and Inter Milan. He also played 56 times for Italy, scoring 27 goals, and is widely seen as one of his country’s all-time greats.
After the robbery, Baggio, widely known as the “divine ponytail”, was treated at a local hospital where he received stitches for the head wound, Italian media reported.
Italy lost to Spain 1-0 on Thursday and now must avoid defeat by Croatia to guarantee progression in the tournament.
-Reuters
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