“Around the age of 14, I was very discouraged from a coach. It was my first youth club team while playing soccer. She told me at the time that I wasn’t good enough to play on the team, that I would never get into the game.”
“As a professional soccer player, I need to get touches on the ball every day, and obviously it’s a lot easier to do that with a team than to motivate yourself to do it by yourself.”
“At home, my mom and my dad shared equally in the responsibilities of the family and our home and always demonstrated the importance of men and women having an equal role.”
“At the FIFA World Player of the Year event, FIFA executives and FIFA president Sepp Blatter didn’t know who I was. And I was being honored as top three in the world. That was pretty shocking.”
“Even when I’m training alone, I always prefer doing soccer-related stuff. On my own, I’ll run through cones or do some shooting exercises or pass the ball against the wall.”
“Every time you step onto the field, you have to set goals. My goals are to either score a goal, to have an assist, or to play well.”
“Honestly, with stats and things like that, I try not to think about them. I just find that the more you think about goals and assists – what you need to do and accomplish – the more you tend to fall short. When you hope for something and you want something, it comes to you.”
“I always, always decide where I’m going with the ball before I take a penalty shot, stare at the ball, follow through, and never look at the place that I’m going to shoot.”
“I certainly don’t feel like I have the perfect body type… It’s through your own eyes. And for every female, you’re going to see flaws in that; you’re going to see flaws regardless. So for me, it’s just important to have that confidence and self-esteem no matter what body type you have.”
“I could always score goals. I loved that feeling of having your team look to you, that feeling of leadership.”