It’s impossible to tell the story of the modern United States women’s national team without mentioning Megan Rapinoe. Both a prolific contributor to the scoresheet — with a knack for clutch moments — and a media-savvy personality always good for a quote, Rapinoe is the face of one of the most successful eras in the team’s illustrious history.
Set to retire at the end of the year, Rapinoe will be looking to add one final championship chapter to her story this summer. Here’s her remarkable international career, by the numbers, courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information:
200
Rapinoe’s 2023 World Cup debut on Friday, or in any other game this tournament, will mark her 200th international appearance for the United States, making her one of just 14 American players to reach the 200-cap mark. Along with Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn, Rapinoe is one of just three active American players to accumulate 200 or more national team appearances.
38
Age has never been much of a factor for the 38-year-old Rapinoe on the field. In 2019, she became the oldest player to ever score in a World Cup final. But in 2023, she’ll be uniquely experienced among those in the USWNT camp, even by her own veteran standards. Not only does she have the second-most caps of anyone on the roster, she’s the oldest player on the squad by nearly three years. If she finds the back of the net this summer she’ll become the oldest player to ever score at a Women’s World Cup.
9
Currently sitting on nine goals scored in World Cup play, if Rapinoe scores this summer, she’ll be one of just 12 female players in the competition’s history to accumulate double-digit goals in tournament play. She’s currently tied for fourth on the USWNT World Cup goal leaderboard.
And she’s displayed a penchant for tallying those goals when it matters most. It was her penalty that opened the scoring in the 2019 Final against the Netherlands. She scored twice in the round of 16 against Spain, and doubled up again in the quarterfinal against France. Every knockout game she played in 2019 came with a goal (she missed the semifinal against England because of injury). She earned the World Cup Golden Boot that year, with five of her six goals coming in elimination games. Five of her nine career World Cup goals have given the United States the lead in the matches.
7
Rapinoe has never been just a goal scorer for the USWNT — she’s one of just seven players to have recorded over 50 goals and over 50 assists for the team. She has also made a significant impact as a creator, racking up assists with pinpoint balls into the box. She’s had more assists for the Stars and Stripes than goals, with 73 and 63 of each, respectively. Perhaps the most iconic example of her skill in setting up her teammates came at her first World Cup in 2011, when her 122nd-minute cross found the head of Abby Wambach for an equalizer against Brazil in the quarterfinal. She’s one of just seven players to be in the top 10 on both the USWNT goal and assist leaderboards.
2
With her role on the 2015 and 2019 title-winning teams, Rapinoe is a part of a select group of players to have won multiple World Cups. She did so each time with a different hair style as well, most notably rocking a pink-dyed haircut in 2019 as part of her Golden Boot performance. This year she’ll head Down Under sporting blue dye, hoping (alongside teammates Morgan, Kelley O’Hara, Alyssa Naeher and Julie Ertz) to join none other than Pele as the only players with three World Cup wins.
1
Only one player has ever captured both the Ballon d’Or Féminin and Golden Ball (the World Cup’s best player award): Rapinoe. She won both in 2019, making history and once again putting herself in a class of her own in World Cup and USWNT lore.
