Via The Washington Post, commentary on the controversy over – and importance of – the USNWT women to continue the program’s tradition of speaking up on issues that matter to them off the pitch:

They waited four long years for this, stocking up on antiquated ammunition and preparing their muskets for the most pointless fight. When Megan Rapinoe, a lionhearted heroine for one side and a “woke” traitor for the other, missed the target on her penalty kick during the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s shootout loss to Sweden on Sunday, her enemies prepared to take long-range shots from across the globe. Theirs is a thousand-year culture war with no end in sight and no purpose beyond stirring the pot.

If, for a moment, we can ignore the throbbing migraine and mental fatigue caused by the vitriol and take this bottom-feeder conversation at face value, then we are to surmise that the U.S. women lost to Sweden not because they could not score a goal through 120 minutes but because the players are anti-American. They exited the World Cup in the round of 16, the earliest in program history, because the majority of starters were too busy protesting the military to mouth the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before matches. The loss was “shocking and totally unexpected” according to the least-informed soccer analyst in the Northern Hemisphere, Donald Trump, and it’s a loss that happened solely because Joe Biden is president, obviously.

Most of the U.S. players are new to the team and new to this liberal-vs.-conservative conflict that grips the nation they are supposed to proudly represent. They were not part of the core that won the program’s fourth World Cup in 2019 while also carrying the burden of calling out its own federation and fighting “institutionalized gender discrimination.” Through it all, the team’s lightning rod of a spokesperson, Rapinoe, wanted the smoke on any social and cultural matter she could find. For her rainbow pride, for her right knee that at times remained on the grass during the national anthem and for her gut reaction when asked about potentially accepting an invitation to be honored by the former one-term president — “I’m not going to the f—ing White House!” — Rapinoe became the representative of the national team. And the right’s enemy of the state.

So the moment the U.S. women failed to advance at the World Cup, their loss was cheered by people who have waited a long time to salute their sadness and declare their demise a national holiday. As unconscionable as it should be for the “America First” crowd to root against their own country, it’s unsurprising how this irrational refrain just won’t die. The pettiness of partisanship is the new birthright of every girl who dreams of becoming one of the best soccer players in her country.

Initially, the mocking was masked as purely soccer criticism — that Rapinoe, the former star but now a bit player near the end of her career, could not come through for her country in the shootout. But who were they kidding? The so-called patriots who hate Rapinoe and everything she stands for could not care less about women’s soccer. The charade lasted until Trump, or probably one of his typo-ridden flunkies, took to his social media platform to resurrect old grudges and wage stale wars.

In a post cluttered with dog whistles and best read in the voice of an 8-year-old emperor, Trump cyber-ranted: “The ‘shocking and totally unexpected’ loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden. Many of our players were openly hostile to America — No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to hell!!! MAGA.”

Also following the loss, Alexi Lalas, a former men’s national team player, a current Fox analyst and a well-known provocateur, called the team “polarizing” and “unlikeable to a portion of America.” Though Lalas’s comments ring with truth — because, yes, extreme right-wingers despise these women — they seem strange coming from a person who is being paid to elevate soccer knowledge for Americans, not to Hannity-ize the game.

Even as our better angels advise us, for the purposes of mental stability, not to give this divisive conversation the sunlight and attention it very much desires, it’s still difficult to ignore and probably is not going away.

Though this team has shifted toward a next generation that includes youngsters such as Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Naomi Girma, who were teenagers when the United States won in 2019, the battles by, and against, the veterans linger over them.

As beneficiaries of their predecessors’ equal-pay fight, they arrived in New Zealand and Australia as pitchwomen, not protesters. Not a trace of disunity should’ve been found, yet that didn’t stop Fox News from paying close attention to the televised portion of the national anthem and counting which U.S. players held their hands over their hearts and which stood silently like insurrectionists ready to overthrow their government. Had the ’23ers clobbered the world as the program is known to do, the troubling reality is there still would’ve been people back home loudly rooting for them to fail. Unfortunately for the women, the millimeter that sent them packing allowed the anti-U.S. women’s team crowd to take its victory lap.

Now if we can go back to the actual soccer for a moment, there’s this to consider: The U.S. roster that stepped on the pitch Sunday lacked any of the top 20 players in the world, according to an ESPN ranking. Fourteen of the 23 Americans were making their World Cup debut, accounting for the team’s uneven play in the tournament. On top of that, the U.S. squad played a Swedish rival that had remained largely intact from previous tournament experiences. And despite it all, the United States dominated in shots (21-8) and shots on goal (12-1). But, sure, let’s not let silly things like facts get in the way of a good culture war.

So as the next stars take over, will the Smiths, the Rodmans and the Girmas of the reloading roster recognize that the battle is not over? Along with inheriting pay equality, they have inherited this fight. If, while balancing their moral drive with capitalizing on their worth, the women continue the program’s tradition of speaking up on issues that matter to them off the pitch, then they will remain in the crosshairs. There may be no cease-fire even if they win it all in 2027. The U.S. women’s team might have won its fight for equal pay, but the other battle rages on.