Since 2019, and even before, if you called the U.S. women’s national team “Megan Rapinoe’s team” you would have had plenty of evidence to back up the claim on and off the field. Her performances and voice were often the loudest, the most brash and the most impactful. Whether it was dominating the 2019 World Cup or advocating for equal pay or trans rights, she was there.
But you could use that last sentence to describe another USWNT legend: Becky Sauerbrunn. If any player has left an indelible footprint on this program, it is Sauerbrunn in her role at center back, where she was the ultimate backstop for both club and country. She’s been referred to by various teammates as quiet and cerebral — Portland Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg called her “a constant stream of information” — yet her actions have spoken amid the calm. If Rapinoe was the person unafraid of the spotlight, Sauerbrunn was the one leading in the shadows.
However, the two were far from opposites. In her 2023 retirement press conference, Rapinoe, who had mostly been her usual jaunty self, began crying as she spoke about leaving behind Sauerbrunn.
“It is particularly difficult to even just talk about what Becky means to me,” Rapinoe said through tears. “As a person, as a player, we’ve…
