(Picture Copyright Michael Thomas Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports activities)

Audacious. Progressive. Entertaining. Considerate.

Selecting even a number of superlatives to explain the unbelievable soccer profession of Megan Rapinoe — which she introduced on Saturday will finish after the 2023 season — is a troublesome job. She is a legend amongst legends, even in a United States girls’s nationwide group program replete with all-time greats.

Amongst her on-field accomplishments are a pair of World Cup titles, the second of which noticed her win the Golden Ball for the event’s greatest participant. Most will keep in mind her for that 2019 marketing campaign, which additionally completely summarized her affect past soccer. She was a focus of the USA’ success whereas shouldering the burden of off-field assaults by then-President Donald Trump (and his hundreds of thousands of loyal followers).

Earlier than the well-known performances in pink hair, nonetheless, there have been the bleach blonde (and brunette) days of Megan Rapinoe — the years of her profession that set the stage for every little thing to come back.