After winning a championship on such a high level, there are a lot of things that happen in the heat of the moment. But, there are some things that shouldn’t happen no matter the level of celebration — one of those being dropping the American flag on the ground for a photo opportunity.
Following their 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) players freaked out at the possibility of another in the long line of opportunities to take a picture for whatever outlet, social media or otherwise.
Controversial co-captain Megan Rapinoe and midfielder Allie Long, with another co-captain Alex Morgan in tow, grabbed the World Cup trophy to do a little choreographed celebration for the cameras. The problem is that Long dropped the American flag she was holding in order to participate fully in the celebration. Rapinoe either seemed shun the flag or didn’t care that the flag was dropped to the ground. Morgan looked like she didn’t see it happen.
To be fair, Long must have realized her faux pas because she quickly lunged down to grab the flag while another teammate, Kelley O’Hara, ran in to pick the flag up off the ground.
Take a look:
@ALLIE_LONG I understand the excitement of the moment, but please NEVER disrespect the 🇺🇸 flag by dropping it on the ground! pic.twitter.com/OdPJqAP6r4
— Poetic Spaniard (@PoeticSpaniard) July 7, 2019
Both Long and Rapinoe, as of this writing, haven’t commented on the flag controversy on either of their Twitter or Instagram pages.
There were also a fair amount of people on Twitter who were none too pleased with their actions:
@ALLIE_LONG with the #fail and @kelleymohara with the American Flag save!
— Andrew Jensen (@EightyJ) July 7, 2019
Kelley, you're the Hero we needed.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸#Respect pic.twitter.com/aemKL3OAm6
@ALLIE_LONG by disrespecting our American Flag as you threw it to the ground so you could celebrate, you ensured many will never watch the team play again, me included- a proud 25 year Navy veteran!
— Robert Bradt (@bobbradt1) July 8, 2019
Maybe just don’t drop the flag, maybe sing the national anthem. Congrats for the win, but show respect to our flag while doing it.
— Average American Sports Fan (@Avg_American_22) July 8, 2019