Rapinoe and Krieger's trailblazing journeys to NWSL final - ESPN

The illustrious careers of Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger will each end on the same field on Saturday, at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, the site of the 2023 National Women's Soccer League championship. The match-up between Rapinoe's OL Reign and Krieger's NJ/NY Gotham FC could be the league's most high-profile game yet, with a championship-record crowd possible and a large global audience expected to tune in for the primetime matchup.

The stage set in San Diego is a far cry from the forgotten early days of each player's club career. Rapinoe and Krieger are each two-time World Cup champions. Each player, too, has already said their goodbyes to the United States women's national team. On Saturday, the two longtime friends get an encore performance for their clubs, one last chance for each to win a rare trophy that has eluded them.

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While both players are best known globally for their accomplishments with the U.S. national team, they refined their skills daily in their club environments. They come from an era when much of that work was done in the shadows, playing games on high school football fields (or, infamously, poorly converted baseball fields) at times when some teams in the NWSL could barely attract 1,000 fans on a hot summer night.

As OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle said after her team's semifinal victory on Sunday, «It seems a bit poetic that the championship game is ending with Krieger and Pinoe's last game.» Perhaps it was even prophetic. Krieger recently shared a September text-message exchange between the two playfully jabbing at each other about making it to the NWSL Championship. The messages are a window into their friendship and their