NJ/NY Gotham defender Ali Krieger, center, kisses the trophy after NJ/NY Gotham defeated OL Reign 2-1 in the NWSL Championship soccer game, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Either Megan Rapinoe of the OL Reign or Ali Krieger of Gotham FC was going to walk off the pitch and into retirement with the National Women’s Soccer League trophy.
Krieger got the trophy. Rapinoe got a heartbreaking end to her brilliant career as she limped off the field for the last time with an apparent torn right Achilles tendon suffered in the first few minutes.
World Cup winner Esther González scored the go-ahead goal on a header in first-half stoppage time and Gotham FC survived a wild final minute to beat OL Reign 2-1 on Saturday night in a NWSL championship match that was in its first few minutes when Rapinoe hobbled off the pitch for good.
“You don’t always get to have the perfect ending,” said Rapinoe, who was in good spirits afterward and wearing a walking boot on her right foot. “I’ve had so many perfect endings, even just thinking back to 2019, that was the most perfect whole script you could ever write personally and as a team, just what it meant. On balance, I don’t think anything that negative about it,” although she joked that she’s now just a normal person facing surgery and rehab.
At the 2019 World Cup in France, Rapinoe scored six goals, including a penalty in the final against the Netherlands. Her victory pose at the championship game became one of the most memorable images of the dominant U.S. run.
Rapinoe announced before this summer’s Women’s World Cup that she was stepping away from the game after a career that included two World Cup titles, an Olympic gold medal and an Olympic bronze.
Krieger was also on that 2019 team as well as the U.S. World Cup team that won the title in 2015.
“I don’t think I could dream of a better ending for myself,” Krieger said. “I just want to ride off…
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