Vlatko Andonovski’s side beat Australia to win the bronze medal but the former president seized the opportunity to criticise the squad
Former United States president Donald Trump has attacked the United States women’s team for their failure to win the gold medal at the Olympics.
The USWNT went into the tournament as one of the favourites to claim first place, having done so four times prior.
But defeat to Canada in the semi-finals saw Vlatko Andonovski’s team miss out, though they went on to claim the bronze medal with a 4-3 win against Australia.
What has been said?
But Trump has criticised the players, claiming their performances have suffered because they were distracted by politics.
In a statement released to reporters, he wrote: “If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze.
“Woke means you lose, everything that is woke goes bad, and our soccer team certainly has.
“There were, however, a few Patriots standing. Unfortunately, they need more than that respecting our Country and National Anthem.
“They should replace the wokesters with Patriots and start winning again.”
Trump singles out Rapinoe
USWNT star Megan Rapinoe has been a vocal critic of Trump over the years, labelling him a white nationalist last year.
Rapinoe accused him of “spewing of hate and the ‘othering’ of the rest of the country”, causing in the United States “more despair and more anxiety and more fear”.
Trump singled out the 36-year-old midfielder in his statement on Thursday, saying: “The woman with the purple hair played terribly and spends too much time thinking about the Radical Left politics and not doing her job!”