On Wednesday, former president Barack Obama, eager to signify his support for the U.S. national women’s soccer team, some of whose members have expressed open hostility for President Trump and disrespect for the American flag, proudly tweeted a selfie showing him with a custom jersey of the team with his name emblazoned on it while calling the team, “America’s best team.” Obama wrote, “Proud to rep America’s best team! Congrats @USWNT and thanks for being such a strong inspiration for women and girls—and everybody—all across the country.”
On Sunday, Obama had celebrated the team, tweeting, “Yes! Fourth star. Back to back. Congrats to the record breakers on the @USWNT, an incredible team that’s always pushing themselves—and the rest of us—to be even better. Love this team. #OneNationOneTeam.”
Last week, after teammate Megan Rapinoe had said she would not visit the White House, Alex Morgan of the U.S. women’s soccer team seemed to indicate that even if the team got an invitation from President Trump, they might not visit the White House, saying, “I think we will make that decision after we finish Sunday’s game. I think there has been a lot of talk prematurely about the White House and about Trump but first we have to do business and then I think you guys know the answer to the question anyways.” Morgan added that it was unlikely some members might go and some might not, asserting, “I can’t say 100 percent but this team is very close and we have always made decisions together so I can’t really see us deciding to part in that way but at the same time if someone feels strongly then who are we to tell them to do or not do something.”
On Tuesday night, Rapinoe stated that the team would not go to the White House, telling Anderson Cooper of CNN, “I would not go and every teammate that I’ve talked to explicitly about it would not go.” She added, “I don’t think anyone on the team has any interest in lending the platform we’ve worked so hard to build and the things that we fight for and the way that we live our lives ― I don’t think we want that to be co-opted or corrupted by this administration. There are so many other people that I would rather talk to and have meaningful conversations that could really affect change in Washington than go to the White House.”
Rapinoe also stated to reporters, “We’ve said publicly — at least I’ve said publicly, I think most of the team, if not everybody, I think everybody is with me. We don’t want to go to the White House. So I figure that’s why the invitation hasn’t come.”
GOAL reported in June, “In 2017 it emerged that German club Darmstadt 84 were the only European club Obama followed on Twitter, sparking a frenzy of speculation as to why that was the case. armstadt, who now play in 2. Bundesliga, are not exactly powerhouses of European football, so the fact that USMNT player Terrence Boyd played for them (he has since moved on) was held up as one potential reason.”