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Megan Rapinoe, Conquering Hero, Returns to Cheers but Not to Action

Joshua Bessex/The Tacoma News Tribune, via Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — It was Megan Rapinoe’s first time on a soccer field with a group of her teammates in three weeks, since she led the United States to the Women’s World Cup victory in France.

What a difference a month makes.

Instead of a crowd of nearly 60,000 at the Stade de Lyon, the venue Sunday was modest and low-slung, a minor-league baseball stadium with a rough capacity of 7,000.

Instead of plying her trade for a United States women’s team basking in the glow of mainstream cool, Rapinoe’s squad on Sunday was Reign F.