USA vs England: Megan Rapinoe's three-word response to criticism of Alex Morgan's 'tea-drinking' celebration

Megan Rapinoe has come to the defence of United States teammate Alex Morgan for her 'tea-drinking' celebration in the win over England.

Morgan’s first-half header made the difference in Lyon, as reigning world champions beat the Lionesses 2-1 to progress to Sunday’s Women's World Cup final.

The 30-year-old was criticised in some quarters for poking fun at England, with international Lianne Sanderson describing it as “distasteful”.

But Rapinoe, who missed the game with a hamstring strain, thinks her teammate was perfectly within her rights to celebrate in the manner she did.

"Wah wah wah," she responded. "I mean it's like we're at the World Cup, what do you want us to do? This is the biggest stage, the biggest moment. I don't think anyone truly believes that we disrespect the game or disrespect our opponents.

"We have the utmost respect for England and every team we've face and every team that we will face forever and ever. That's just part of the DNA of the squad.

"And with that said, we work hard, we like to play hard, and we like to have fun and enjoy ourselves and these are the absolute biggest moments to do that."

Morgan said the ‘tea-drinking’ was her way of answering the US’s critics, who have accused Jill Ellis’ players of arrogance.

“I wanted to keep it interesting,” she said. “I know Megan Rapinoe has the best celebration. I had to try and step up this game.

“I feel like this team has had so much thrown at them and us. I feel like we didn’t take an easy route through this tournament and ‘that’s the tea’.”

The US were caught in the middle of controversy from their very first game, when they celebrated every goal in a record 13-0 victory over Thailand.

Rapinoe was targeted by President Donald Trump last week after it emerged she would not accept a post-tournament invitation to the White House.

And then before Tuesday’s semi-final, Phil Neville questioned the US’s “etiquette”, having found two of their officials visiting private rooms at England’s team hotel.

Morgan could only praise England after the final whistle, having seen their captain Steph Houghton miss a late penalty to force extra time.

“I felt like England had a great game,” Morgan said. “They were unlucky. It came up huge for us with the penalty save.”