“Go gays!”



Megan Rapinoe was fresh off the field in Paris after bagging the two goals that sent the U.S. national team to the semifinals of the World Cup. Just a moment before, she had turned the corner of the mixed zone in the bowels of Parc des Princes, breaking into a grin as she saw the sheer volume of reporters who awaited her and opening her arms in invitation. She had gotten her wish for a “complete spectacle” and she had been, of course, one of its chief protagonists. She struck first in the fifth minute, off a set piece that traveled straight through the legs of France captain Amandine Henry:



And then again in the 65th off a Tobin Heath cross that trickled back across the box and into her path:



So when she was asked what motivated her, especially in light of an eventful week off the field, and if there was a little something special to playing a lights-out game like this during Pride Month—yes, Rapinoe was feeling...