Alyssa Thompson is a kid. She is a high-schooler, an 18-year-old who adores her little sisters and frequently tugs her long sleeves over her palms. She is a daughter who lives with her parents in Southern California, and so, understandably, she has been billed as the future, hyped as American soccer's next transcendent star.
And in her National Women's Soccer League debut, she proved that all the hype, all the prophecies, all the seemingly hyperbolic statements about her future greatness were, in fact, slightly inaccurate.Even before the goal that jolted 22,000 people out of their seats and thousands more off their couches, Thompson burst up and down the left wing at BMO Stadium on Sunday, lighting up Angel City's season opener against Gotham.
"I'm so happy," she'd later explain with a girlish smile,"that I get to do this in my hometown, and in front of all my friends and family." She debuted for the U.S. women's national team last fall, coming off the bench in front of 76,893 fans at Wembley Stadium. She has been considered a long shot for the World Cup roster, and did not get an invite to training camps in January and February. Her biggest obstacle is the six accomplished and talented wingers ahead of her on the USWNT depth chart: Mal Swanson, Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Megan Rapinoe, Lynn Williams and Midge Purce.
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