For anyone who wants a true sense of how divided the USA is right now, go ahead and hop on Twitter to see the reactions to Megan Rapinoe and co. being beaten by Sweden in PKs Sunday ... which ends their World Cup run, and sees Rapinoe retire on a down note.

A ton of people -- mostly conservatives, it seems -- are crapping on the USWNT and arguing that the team, at large, is reaping what they've sown here ... citing political stances some have taken, including how they handled the National Anthem at the start of the tournament.

You'll recall ... several starters for Team USA stood in silence during the 'Star-Spangled Banner' during their opening match against Vietnam -- and it pissed a lot of folks off.

Of course, there were also comments Rapinoe made last year about trans athletes in women's sports -- which she unequivocally supported in fiery statements. That, too, rubbed a certain demographic the wrong way -- and now, a victory lap is being had at her expense.

This is a snapshot of where America is right now ... where culture wars dominate pretty much every aspect of pop culture, which are getting uglier and more contentious by the day.

On an objective level ... there are also some saying Team USA just wasn't up for going the distance this year, evidenced by their level of play and lack of effective offense. They squeaked by the early round ... and many felt other teams were simply better than us.

There was also a question about attitude ... something former USWNT star Carli Lloyd tore into the other day after the Americans seemed happy to settle for a 0-0 tie with Portugal.