USWNT's Rapinoe, Morgan - U.S. Soccer 'stood by' as players were abused by coaches

The biggest stars on the U.S. women's national team have accused the U.S. Soccer Federation of having «failed to do the bare minimum» and «willful inaction» in protecting players from abusive coaches in a letter released on Wednesday.

«USSF had the obligation to protect its players — yet it stood by as abuse continued to occur unchecked,» the players said in the letter provided to ESPN. «For starters, USSF should have immediately removed coaching licenses from abusers. Instead, USSF allowed those individuals to coach while saying it would investigate. USSF failed to do the bare minimum — to keep us and the young girls who play in the youth leagues safe.»

— Murray: Contract latest: Will USMNT, USMNT strike a joint deal? — Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

The letter, signed by Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd and other veteran players on the USWNT, comes after multiple reports of sexual and emotional abuse from National Women's Soccer League coaches who had been flagged to the federation but still were allowed to keep coaching.

U.S. Soccer founded the NWSL and managed it up until last year. The letter was sent to current U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone and former president, Carlos Cordeiro,who is running against Parlow Cone for the position in an election to be decided next month.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that former Chicago Red Stars coach Rory Dames had groomed teenagers for sex when he was a youth coach and one player reported his advances to police in 1998. Dames later went on to coach for the Red Stars in the NWSL, and in 2018 USWNT striker Christen Press filed a formal complaint to U.S. Soccer alleging emotionally abusive behavior from Dames.

The federation did not suspend his