[THE PITCH] “And don’t underestimate the importance of body language.” –Ursula, from The Little Mermaid

In Offenbach, Germany, a 16,000 standing-room-only crowd roared so loudly in the echo-intense arena that those of us sitting inches apart on the bench could hardly converse. The 22 American and German players on the pitch stood no chance at communicating at all. Four days later, Holland’s Kyocera Stadium was filled  with an orange sea of 8,000 enthusiastic fans partaking in a spontaneous wave so strong, I seriously wondered why the Dutch had not yet abandoned the use of windmills for energy... Needless to say, my 90-minute in-game conversation with myself was completely unheard, as well as all of my other attempts at communication with my teammates: calling for the ball, setting the press, cheering…

Back at the HOH...

Jenni is here. Tyreso's newest acquisition and Spanish international finds herself between a rock and a hard place as she speaks neither Swedish nor English. So, for the time being, Meghan Klingenberg (my fellow American companion, housemate, and USWNT + Tyresö teammate, more popularly known as Kling) and I speak English and some Spanish. Vero speaks Spanish and some English and we all smile awkwardly and point a lot....trying to communicate. 

Acclaimed management consultant Peter Drucker says, "The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said." Ironically, for me, this rings louder and truer everyday as I often find the most expedient form of communicating is body language. 

Minutes before the start of the game vs. the Netherlands, Heather O’Reilley ran over to me amid the noisy stadium. She had to shout for me to hear her, making her point that much more clear. She said something to the extent of… in a stadium where we can’t hear any verbal communication, the way we carry ourselves becomes that much more important. As strikers, the rest of the team will be looking toward you throughout the game, and it’s imperative to exude energy, positivity, and good body language for the rest of the team to feed off.

I've gotten used to reading players' body language and waiting for their cues on the field. In fact, forwards spend the whole game deciphering codes based on teammates approach and set up to the ball to determine when and where to make runs. But now, since playing for both Tyresö FF and the US, I’ve noticed that the player on the ball often waits for me to signal them where to pass the ball. So I have to keep that in mind. While I'm reading them, they are reading me! It is a fluid exchange of signals that neither starts nor ends with the match.

There is a whole series of nonverbal cues before the game: tons of energy is created through the exchange of high fives, pregame dancing, and smiles. Sometimes the pre-game music plays so loudly the inevitable sing-a-long is drowned out completely (and in my case that's a good thing!!), so all that's left is an amped up scene of hearts pounding and fists pumping.

In time we become, though sometimes subconsciously, aware of one another's manners, styles, and cues. For example, Kling has a unique cross that very unexpectedly bends speedily behind the defensive line. As a forward running into the box, I wouldn't know to run in front of the defender to the near post or fill the space in behind unless I could read her body language. Her approach before playing this ball is atypical, which makes it deceptive for both the defender and the other attackers, but now I’ve learned her "tell" and can react before she kicks the ball. Every time we train, I become more fluent in our only universal dialect: body language.

On the other hand, we quite consciously try to crack our opponent's body language codes, which can make our job easier in the match. For example, defenders use their body with the intent of dictating what you do with the ball. It is the job of an attacker to pick up on that body code and exploit it to your advantage. You can do exactly what they don’t want you to do, forcing them to readjust and possibly gaining that invaluable extra second, orrrr not. I’ve noticed that if a defender “gives” Marta one side, she explodes past them right through it...hmmm...how do you say "See ya sucker!" in Portuguese? 

I am happy to report that communications are improving all around. Right before our first game in Damallsvenskan, I made a point of trying to encourage our new teammate and friend. So, in slightly botched Spanish, I asked Jenni how she was feeling. Un poco nerviosa. I tried to tell her not to feel alone on the field and that we are all in this together. We ended up laughing at my misused cognate, but her thumbs up let me know she got my intent. After the match—a win and a great premier—she ran over to me and gave me a big hug and a smile. I couldn't help but smile too. Message sent...message received.

USWNT 3 – Germany 3

Highlights

USWNT 3 – Holland 1

Highlights

Tyresö FF 1 – Umeå IK 0

Highlights

RFL,

Invictus

Invictus

By Willian Earnest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, my unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

6. X.

[THE PITCH] The past two weeks marked the Quarter Finals of UEFA Women’s Champion’s League. Due to weather issues, the Swedish league season runs opposite to the central European leagues, starting in spring and ending in the fall. Which means that to qualify for Champions League you have to place in Damallsvenskan 9months before the tournament begins. In order to play out a Champion’s League season with a Swedish team, you have to sign for two seasons. Switching clubs last winter meant missing out on the CL quarter final this spring. So, over the past two Thursdays, I watched from my couch as Malmö and Göteborg, my rival and former club, took on their French opponents in the biggest club soccer tournament in the world.

Playing about 30 games with Göteborg last year and four times against Malmö (as well as watching the latter on TV several times), I feel quite familiar with the level of play of which these teams are capable when at their best and, also, when they are not at their best. And, while I know that the usual elements of travel, the away crowds, and playing on a grass fields put both Swedish teams at a disadvantage for the first leg, there seemed to be something more missing from their play both away and at home.

While I can’t put my finger on exactly what was missing, I could see it in the timing of their passing. It’s hard to describe precisely what went wrong, but I could feel it as I observed the familiar Swedish faces.

To put it simply, it appeared that neither Swedish team looked “played in.” Some may argue that Lyon is the top women’s club in the world because of the talented roster afforded by a considerable financial advantage in the club.

While of course, individual talent and economic benefit are huge components contributing to the team’s success (did I hear something about 100 game no-losing streak?), there is something more to the story here. Lyon’s cohesiveness and singular mindset, or “x” factor, give them the true edge. If a team is a sum of the individual players’ ability then, the addition of the “x” factor puts the beauty in the beautiful game for the fans, and the play in the game for the players. The presence of the “x” factor differentiates a great team from merely a team of great players. Like the sixth man in basketball, this variable is often the deciding force in the outcome of games as well. So, where can I find this “x”? 

In the case of Lyon, the majority of the team plays together on the national team and a large number have been a part of Les Lyonnaises for years. Unlike many women’s soccer environments today, the club is stable and established, so the players do not have to live with a lingering fear of instantaneous disintegration a la WUSA/ WPS. That being the case, players and the staff certainly know each other, and they understand each other’s goals and football philosophies. With that valuable information, they are better able to make each other look good.

On the other hand, both the Swedish teams were playing with significant roster changes for the new season and on a two-month ‘training-only’ preparation for these important CL matches. And in the case of Gothenburg v Juvisy, a match up of arguably equal rosters and resources, the more cohesive, unified, organized side won.

As the season progresses with matches and trainings, teams fight together, celebrate triumphs big and small, and commiserate failures both minor and colossal. With each training session, players learn their teammates’ tendencies, triggers, signals, weaknesses and preferences. As a result, the teams that have been together longer exhibit more confidence and are more consistent.

The benefits from this type of bonding has the potential for providing even more benefits. Research studies using virtual reality have demonstrated that mother’s can run faster/ jump higher when trying to save their babies compared to when they simply put forward their ‘personal best effort.’ The same phenomenon can be found in football too. I’ve noticed that players seem to move faster and work harder when they know their teammates are counting on them. A simple example of this can be found in training for fitness tests. No matter how many times I ran the “beep test” alone in preparation for preseason, I always ran it better with my teammates at my side. Yes, perhaps it was the heat of a little inter-squad competition, or perhaps it was something else: the feeling that when your goals include more than just yourself, you can be bigger than yourself, too. And through the mutual and consistent flow of blood, sweat, and tears...a team of reckoning is born. .

Taking things one step further, playing on a team of players that you know well and know you well creates a unique and advantageous training environment. This atmosphere can cause the most successful moves in a game can become the least successful moves in training. As your teammates learn your style and moves, it becomes increasingly more difficult to wield those “bread and butter” techniques and tactics during training sessions. Individual predictability is a game killer. You must learn that counter move and push yourself that much further to excel. Therefore, through training with familiar players, the individual’s arsenal is forced to expand and the player, quite naturally, grows.

When it is all said and done, the bigger the stakes, the bigger advantage a seasoned team has over their opponent. Knowing your teammates well is like getting the answers the night before the test: it is easier to stay one step ahead of the play, read the game faster and make moves more quickly. I mention these factors, as an observer from the outside looking in, not as excuses for the results in the CL Quarter Finals.

As the semi-finals edge nearer and nearer for the 4 remaining teams, Tyreso’ opportunity to play for this title sits idly. The start of the 2014 CL is months away in the fall. And, perhaps, even in those early rounds, we will possess the “factor” we might lack today.  The time spent waiting… just might be exactly what we need to prepare for this championship. Suddenly, it is clear…every touch, pass, sprint, every match, every practice, and every meeting… we have an end goal, and I, a sense of restored purpose.

RFL,

If

by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired waiting,

Or be lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet dont look too good, not talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools...

5.Welcome. Make Yourself Uncomfortable.

Photo Credit: Carl Sandin: http://carlsandin.blogspot.se/ 

[THE PITCH] It’s funny, when I graduated from high school I had no problem saying goodbye to my teenage cohorts—Insecurity, Vanity, and Jealousy, but my other companion Angst remained right by my side. Following me to college, Angst was there when I choked on the oatmeal and bananas breakfasts before practices, she was there holding my hair back when I threw up after fitness tests, she stayed toe to toe with me on breakaways, and huddled up with me after I missed. Angst was nothing if not a loyal compadre….a nursemaid, in fact, for Angst was the maker of the bed in which I would lie.

I don’t remember exactly when I began to believe that Angst was the enemy in disguise. Her influence over me was all encompassing and her presence enormous. I spent my later college years trying to break up with Angst, dump her. I worked hard to free myself from her weight on my shoulders, to wiggle out of the shackles around my feet. Only a few years ago, just the thought of getting a call-up to camp with the USWNT was the cue for Angst to run her cold, clammy hand down my spine. I tossed and turned at night finding little comfort in my twin extra-long bed, so dreams were few and far between in the spring of my senior year.

It was not, however, until my professional football career that I was actually able to ditch Angst. And in that freedom, I rejoiced. In Sweden last year, I adopted a new motto: “Fail. Fail again. Fail better.” When I started to realize that I had already missed, lost and failed a hundred times before, only to (eventually) convalesce with a smile on my face, it became clear that there was no room in my young adult life for the not-so-comforting governess of my youth. Perhaps, I’d outgrown her. I suddenly found myself sleeping comfortably in my Dux bed dreaming the dreams of dreamers…

So, by the time I went up for my first “at bat” with the Full Team, Angst was but a spectator in the nosebleeds. And I certainly did not invite her to board the plane to the Olympics. The summer in London as an alternate was a unique opportunity for me to get comfortable with the international game. Without the expectations and pressure my teammates felt to bring back the gold (or had previously felt to make the roster), I was free to play and practice and push unreservedly. And I thought Angst and I had finally and officially called it quits.

For me, “getting comfortable” is not just about speed of play and tactical understanding. It is not all about confidence in my abilities on the field or knowing I can succeed at this level. A lot of my comfort on the field, stems from my comfort off the field: in finding friends, in forging a routine, in navigating this new life of extensive travel and constant movement and managing what the Swedes have coined hoteldödden (the hotel death.) And while adjusting to this lifestyle during what feels like my first real opportunity to make this team, I’m rediscovering and reconsidering my old friend Angst.

I now have six caps under my belt. I’ve spent all but 40 minutes of my total time in a USWNT jersey playing in the midfield. I’ve started three games. I’ve had moments where I felt I was at my best: comfortable and confident and gliding. And I’ve had spouts of time where I was uninvolved, lost, and totally disconnected out on the wing. I’ve scored goals and felt reassured that I can, most certainly, do this; and still, the next day I was too nervous during a warm-up to produce a clean five-yard pass, doubting if I belong.

The USWNT might possibly be one of the most competitive teams in the world. Head coach Tom Sermanni told Sports Illustrated in an interview, “I haven’t seen many male teams train with quite the same intensity, let alone any other female teams. In this team, you just don’t have to motivate players. If anything, you need to sort of say, ‘Just be careful. I don’t want anybody injured in training.” And I have the bumps and bruises to prove it.

Perhaps I will never be quite comfortable on this team. Won’t someone always be waiting in the wings? … Perhaps no one should ever be comfortable on this team. Isn’t that what it means to be an elite athlete? The last place you expect to find complacency is on the National Team. And I'm down with that. I think being totally comfortable is a dangerous thing in any realm of life.

This time around, I think I’ve found a suitable role for Angst in my life. I am embracing the fact that her sloppy housekeeping makes for a lumpy, uncomfortable bed… which in turn makes it a lot easier for me to get up everyday to run, train, and fight. Like Jon Bon Jovi warns, “Don't get too comfortable with who you are at any given time - you may miss the opportunity to become who you want to be.”

 [Stoppage Time] The Algarve: Iceland, China, Sweden, Germany

On February 25^th, the team traveled to Albuierfa, Portugal to compete in its 18th Algarve Cup. The Algarve Cup is considered one of the most prestigious international women’s football tournaments. The rainy weather, the less that perfect pitch conditions, and the small fan base did not detract from my excitement to be a part of these games!! The United States arrived at The Algarve a week before the games began, extending our time there to 18 days. So yes, by the end of our trip we had played every version of UNO that you’ve never heard of and consumed more Indian Food than I had in the rest of my life combined.

The team switched both personnel and formation throughout the tournament, with Tom reminding us that he has one eye on today and one eye on the future. The trip was filled with first caps, first starts, first goals, a 100^th cap, a 154^th goal, and ended with the trophy. For many, the new cycle for US Soccer marks a rebirth for our international careers, and above all else the trip was noted with big smiles and people stepping up into new roles.

http://www.ussoccer.com/media-library/Videos/US-Women/2013/03/WNT-Goals-at-the-Algarve-Cup--9-for-9.aspx

RFL,

All The World’s A Stage.

“All The World’s A Stage”: How the rise and fall of the WPS led to a more globalized game.

This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of Our Game Magazine.

[Sidelines] Playing international football is not always easy, nor is living abroad or being in a constant state of transition. There is a lot that goes into being a world traveler. The packing alone requires thought and effort, in order to prepare for a successful journey. As traveling is part of being a footballer, I always take the time. I always make the effort. After all, these are small sacrifices in return for a chance to play the beautiful game!

So, in preparation for my move back to Sweden, I created a playlist for the seemingly endless flight: a mixture of relaxing songs in acknowledgement of another sad goodbye to home with some uplifting pop beats to celebrate a new adventure. And that’s when I came across Swedish House Mafia’s hit, Don’t You Worry Child. I smiled as memories flashed in my mind of friends from home singing to this song at a nightclub and the countless spontaneous dance parties that broke out in the locker room in Sweden to this favorite local beat. The song reminded me that although there are 7,000 miles in between, my two lives are not that far apart. As I turned on this tune during my trans-continental flight, I thought how the Swedish artists performing high energy House Music in English is symbolic for the globalization in football. Like the sport of football, sharing world music is a beautiful thing. I relaxed as my mind drifted back, toward my past, and forth, toward the future... How will the globalization of football play out?

In its short existence and with all its problems, the WPS was undoubtedly the strongest women’s league in the world. The seven and then six team organization planted a tight-knit network of elite female footballers and seeds of globalization took root. The highest caliber of international women footballers (including Marta, Carolyn Seger, Kelly Smith, Christine Sinclaire, and Homare Sawa) flocked to the states to play alongside an incredibly strong domestic group.  During its existence,  very few Americans played abroad, as rosters in Europe’s long-standing leagues were comprised almost entirely of domestic players. However, when the WPS ceased operations, both domestic and foreign players scattered throughout the world in search of clubs. In 2011, my former team Kopparberg’s Göteborg FC roster was entirely Swedish. Then, for 2012 they signed five internationals. For 2013, my current team Tyresö FF’s includes two Americans, two Brazilians, a Dane, a Dutch, and a Spaniard, all of whom once played in the US.

And where will all this “free trade” in football lead? Well, if my experience is any indication, then, I think we are headed in the right direction.

From watching international football, we see how stylistically distinct football can be from different countries. From playing international football, I have observed how much different styles of football reflect the attitude and concerns of the country’s culture.

At the top of the women’s game today, American soccer epitomizes physical dominance and mental toughness, resulting in a fast-paced, intense football style, reflecting a culture that emphasizes personal achievement and competition. Of course, I was reared in this style of play. And then there is Sweden, with its culture of “lagom.” Roughly speaking, lagom means in moderation or sufficient. From a young age, Swedes are celebrated for fitting into the status quo. Not surprisingly, their football style spotlights team tactics and fulfilling defined roles within the unit. And although I will always proudly flaunt my American competitor attitude, I’m learning to embrace this “balanced approach.”

I’ve found that when you have a blend of cultures and football philosophies together on the field everyday, these international teammates share ideas, skills, and training regimens and grow in ways they might not be able to in a homogenous environment. In time, what often starts out as a cacophony of styles, transforms into a very sophisticated melody. Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child!

Football is the world’s sport. We’ve seen that for years on the men’s side where even every small country, poor province and remote island manages to field competitive teams. If women playing abroad is not proof enough that a global philosophy is the sign of the times, then how about the fact that both our men and women’s national teams are lead by foreign head coaches?

Now, with the commencement of the National Women’s Soccer League in 2013, we shake things up again. The league will blend Mexican, Canadian, and American national team players with a domestic group and potentially two additional international players per team. The NWSL did not, however, present the same immediate lure for international players as the WPS, and many chose to stay in Europe. Time will tell how this crucial development of the women’s game in the United States affects the world, as many international and American players, myself included, look on from afar with hopeful eyes.

As for me, I am determined to make Sweden a part of me, both on and off the pitch. I know there is so much to learn here. But just as significant, I intend to leave my footprint here on the Swedish turf. As a Californian, I believe in the beauty of The Melting Pot. Globalization in football is the wave of the future…and the future is now!