Reflecting on Rapinoe's Legendary Career

Hello all 🙂

Before we get into today’s edition, a PSA to anyone who uploads football highlights on YouTube:

Please. We’re all dying here. I’m looking at you, CBS Golazo 👀

Today we talk about:

• Liverpool’s VAR controversy, and what it could mean for more transparent reffing in the future.

• Megan Rapinoe retiring, and we can take from her legacy

But first, here’s your FRONT THREE.

Cue dramatic news music

The Front Three

Man City (*checks notes*) lost? Yeah, I know, but it’s true. A 2-1 loss at the Molineux on Saturday was City’s first of the season. Rodri’s suspension proved to be even more costly as Pep’s Blues definitely missed his presence in the midfield. Special shoutout to the Wolves supporters who consistently gave Matheus Nunes so much schtick that Pep was forced to hook him at halftime to try and take some of the air out of the stadium. Also, I know they lost, but Julian Alvarez is the real deal. If you haven’t seen his beauty of a free kick to draw City level, you’re welcome.

Ajax match postponed after scary injury. Eredivisie side Waalwijk’s goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen was knocked unconscious during Saturday’s match. Thankfully, the club released a statement Sunday letting everyone know of Vaessen’s condition:

An epidemic of sucky stadiums. It seems that lately there have been an usual amount of accounts from fans complaining about major stadium defects. A few days ago, a leak in Old Trafford’s roof resulted in multiple videos of Man United fans getting soaked during the Crystal Palace match. However Greek club Panathinaikos has had an even worse go of things, as the Olympic Stadium (where they play their Europa league matches) reportedly failed a routine inspection and has not had proper maintenance since 2004. Is your home team’s stadium in good condition? Let us know.

Rapinoe Retires

Megan Rapinoe retired, and of course, we had to write about it. However, to be transparent, writing about her career was harder than I thought.

Stay with me here, but there’s a YouTube channel I watch a lot called Foolish Baseball. In one of his videos, Bailey (the channel’s owner) took on the challenge of making a video summarizing the career of all-time home run leader (and similarly polarizing) Barry Bonds. Here’s what Bailey had to say about this challenge: “[Bonds’ stats] are a creative trap for me. The numbers are so outrageous that I don’t even have to do anything creative with them. We could just drool over these stat lines and use phrases like ‘video game numbers’ for the next 10-15 minutes…”.

Just like Bonds, Rapinoe’s stats are so impressive, and she’s had so many all-time clutch performances, that it creates, as Bailey puts it, “a creative trap”. How do we properly explain what Rapinoe meant to the game without going on and on about “that cross” in Dresden?

The best way I can explain what Rapinoe’s career meant to me, is to first examine how it ended. No, I’m not talking about her curtain call against South Africa, I’m talking about this summer’s World Cup. The team’s underwhelming performance at the tournament mired Rapinoe’s last run at the trophy in the uncertainty and confusion that came with Vlatko Adronovsky’s tenure as manager. At 38 years old, Rapinoe saw significant playing time, which would normally have served as nothing but a testament to her immense abilities and fitness. However, the massive expectations placed upon the team’s young core heading into the tournament changed things. For many, Rapinoe’s longevity was no longer only representative of personal success, but also of institutional failure. How could Vlatko be forced to turn to an aging Rapinoe in crunch time of a World Cup elimination game? What did such a decision say about the talent (or lack thereof) waiting in the wings (or on them)?

Here’s how: Rapinoe is unlike most players. Sometimes, a player comes along and is such a breath of fresh air in ability and personality that they don’t fit into the normalcy suggested by statistics. It’s easy to think of players solely within the context of “generations” .Often, it’s tempting to take a “Career Mode-esque” view of the game, focusing on what comes next instead of enjoying who we have in the present. Teams on the men’s side do it all the time. How many times did Real Madrid try to replace Karim Benzema before they finally realized that at 35, he could still be the guy? How long before Lamine Yamal is considered an elder statesmen at Barcelona when an even younger starboy from La Masia bursts onto the scene? Ultimately, players like Megan Rapinoe serve as a reminder that every player is both unique and unrepeatable. Sure, some people take issue with individuality, and Rapinoe was surely not exempt from the criticism that it came with. But no matter how you feel about the 2x World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist, you can’t deny that there will never be another ‘Pinoe.

VAR’s Big Mistake

Luis Diaz was onside, VAR said he wasn’t. No matter how you slice it, VAR has had another howler, arguably its worst yet.

In case you missed this whale of a match (for shame), here’s what happened:

After Spurs’ dramatic 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday, PGMOL released a statement admitting “a significant human error occurred”, an error which cost Liverpool a goal they earned fairly.

But what does it mean going forward?

Before deciding where we should direct the bulk of criticism, we must first determine where excessive criticism would be misplaced.

When reading PGMOL’s statement, my attention was immediately drawn to PGMOL’s decision to qualify the error as “human”. While appearing small, the word “human” in this statement provides an important bit of insight into what this situation might mean for the future. It’s easy to blame VAR as an entity when errors like these happen. Many of us can remember the times when you didn’t have to suspend your excitement for five minutes after your team scored. However, by every metric, VAR has been a positive addition to football’s top leagues. What needs to change is protocol.

Sure, you can fire Darren England for this, but this isn’t the first massive mistake made as a result of VAR, which likely points to bigger, more systemic issues pertaining to how officials are trained to make decisions. Focusing on the individual would certainly send a message, but would provide very little substance in terms of affecting any significant change.

But do you disagree? Reply to this email with your thoughts.

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