LYON, France — It was late Sunday night, moments after the United States women’s soccer team had clinched its second consecutive World Cup title, and Coach Jill Ellis was trying to articulate how Megan Rapinoe, her star left wing, had taken the monthlong tournament and made it her personal performance stage.

“Megan was built for this,” Ellis said, shaking her head while sitting inside a news conference room at the Stade de Lyon, “built for these moments, built to be a spokeswoman for others.”

Rapinoe was meant to be sitting beside her coach, but she was running late after being randomly selected for a postgame doping test. In her absence, Ellis showered her with praise: about her eloquence, about her honesty, about how women’s soccer needed players like her.

“The bigger the spotlight, the more she shines,” Ellis said. “I think spotlights can burn people, but for Megan, it just highlights who she is.”