Megan Rapinoe Blasts 'Unnatural' Aspect Of Men's World Cup

The 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup has been a massive success in North America so far this month.

The U.S. men's national team has looked good, winning both of its games against Paraguay and Australia. Meanwhile, fans from Europe, Asia, South America, etc. have packed the stands for their country's games at various stadiums across North America.

FOX's TV ratings have been up big, too. Tens of millions of fans have tuned in to watch the U.S. men's national team and other games throughout the tournament. However, legendary U.S. women's national team star Megan Rapinoe has an issue.

Rapinoe is unhappy with the hydration breaks taking place during the men's World Cup. The hydration breaks essentially break up the two-half game into a four-quarter match.

The legendary U.S. women's national team star has a problem with this.

Rapinoe blasts 'antithetical' aspect of men's tournament

Rapinoe sounded off during CBS Sports' "We Need To Talk" show.

"It'd be nice if somebody cared about what the athletes think, not just about selling ads. But what do you think about this?" journalist Andrea Kremer asked Rapinoe on the show.

"Well, I mean, I think it was laid bare like really quickly that it was about selling ads because they said that they weren't gonna sell ads and then they sold ads in the middle of the game," Rapinoe responded.

She continued.

"So that's just, it's so antithetical to the sport of soccer and the flow of the game and the momentum. Like if it's 100 degrees, yes, give these players some water and like player safety over everything. Always. We wanna keep them safe and keep them performing at their best on the field. But it's just, it feels a little like the squeeze that, that feels like is on the World Cup in general, where it's ticket prices or just the way FIFA has gone about it.

"And so I think that's kind of left a bad taste. I think for the viewer, it's disruptive. If you're not in stadium, you're just watching on TV. And then I think for the players, like, it's really an unnatural part of the game. You've never really experienced that on a consistent level before. And then to know that like they're selling ads when they said they weren't going to, it's just kind of like, guys, come on."

What do you make of her comments?

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This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 5:34 AM.