MUST WATCH: Megan Rapinoe says her best memory playing US soccer was ‘equal pay’ with men

Megan Rapinoe was instrumental in helping the US Women's National Soccer Team lose in the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup, missing a penalty kick in overtime. The loss to Sweden means that the US, two-time defenders of the Cup, are out of the Australia games.

Rapinoe, 38, appeared to laugh as she walked off the field after missing the penalty shot in overtime, but she was all tears when she was asked after the match, which was her last with the team, if there was a "memory that stands out" to her at the end of the match, the Cup, and her career with US soccer. She announced her retirement prior to the start of the Cup.

"I mean, probably the equal pay chance, after the [2019] final," she said. After the US team won their second Women's World Cup, the team pressed for equal pay to the men's soccer team, even though that team out earns the women's team by a substantial margin.

After pressure from the women's athletes, however, they were awarded the same pay for game appearances and tournement wins. While the men's team has not had the same kind of success as the women's team, the playing field for the men, who compete against storied national franchises like England, Argentina, Germany, and so many others, is far more competetitve and fierce.

Despite that, the women's and mens teams were forced to share revenue. The new deal included a "redistribution of the millions of dollars in World Cup prize money the men’s and women’s teams can earn by playing in the tournament every four years. They also contain new revenue-sharing agreements that could see the players receive millions more from their cut of U.S. Soccer’s commercial revenues each year."

Men and women are now paid the same rate in match fees, performances bonuses, and prize money. Women's teams were paid less because women's teams simply earned less. The teams had taken salaries instead of payments made up of prize money and other income so that they would be assured of earning anything at all. Rapinoe and others on the US women's team complained that they had more international wins and should be paid more.

The mens' team generated $185.7 million in the decade leading up to Rapinoe's demand, while the women's team earned $101.3 million in revenue. Men's soccer is a more profitable venture.

US Soccer reports, however, that women were already being paid more than the men. "Between 2015 to 2019, the USWNT played 111 total games and made $24.5 million overall, averaging $220,747 per game. The USMNT played 87 total games and made $18.5 million overall, averaging $212,639 per game. The USWNT did play more games due to the difference in competitions and international calendar than the USMNT, but they also earned more money than the USMNT per game."

For Rapinoe, however, getting more money, even though women were already earning more money, despite women's teams making less money, was a bigger triumph than actually winning games.

"I think you know, they're saying equal pay," she went on, "but could have been saying a lot of things. I think this team is always fought for so much more and that's been the most rewarding part for me. Of course, playing in World Cups and winning championships and doing all that but, you know, to know that we've used our really special talent to do something, you know, that's really like changed the world forever. I think that means the most to me, and, you know, the players in this locker room here, they're just getting started and you know, to all the players I've played with, obviously, you know, know what it's like to be in the grind is the best part."