“I just told myself before I went in: ‘don’t screw up’. “I was young and it was so new,” she said, again with a laugh. Her first USA cap came in 2013, when she flew from France to Portugal and played 25 minutes against People's Republic of China in a game at the annual Algarve Cup with then PSG teammate Tobin Heath - who Horan ranks as her favourite all-time women's footballer. “I didn’t have anyone before me who did it and so I kind of didn’t know if it was going to work out.” So-so debut to leading role “There were no guarantees that I’d get myself in the national team by going to France,” said Horan, who returned to the States in 2016 and won an NWSL title and league MVP award in 20 respectively with her Portland Thorns. In making so bold a decision, Horan turned down a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina – the school that produced Team USA trailblazers Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm. Barely 18 and straight out of high school, she lined up for PSG for four seasons (scoring 48 goals in 56 games as a straight-up striker). Horan broke with tradition and became the first American woman to go overseas in 2012. And it wasn’t just him, but Iniesta and Xavi, too – this was wizardry! It opened up my mind to a whole new world.” “I would follow Messi on the TV screen and see what choices he made. “I got it into my head early to watch Messi,” said Horan, who speaks with encyclopedic knowledge of those Barcelona teams that changed the game of football forever with Pep Guardiola, demanding and cajoling, at the helm. If you’ve ever peeked at Horan’s twitter feed, you’ll know who it is. This is no surprise considering the club – and one player in particular – she grew up emulating. She’s most at home, as she says often, on the ball. She’s always on the lookout for the ember of an attack. She happily stalks the spaces from touchline to touchline, between both penalty areas, eager to find the gaps. Horan dominates the attacking third of the field, even from her deeper role under new USA coach Vlatko Andonovski. And at the tip of the spear, as a traditional centre-forward, she might be best of all. She's obviously comfortable deep in the midfield, but she’s a nightmare for defenders when she moves farther up into the number-10 role, scheming behind the strikers. "I don’t really care where you put me, as long as I can get on the ball." “I studied the game so much from when I was a kid and I feel like I see the game really well,” added the 26-year-old Horan – tall and powerful and great in the air, but a creator in her bones – about the various positions she’s been asked to play for the United States since her first cap as a teenager. Horan scored in the 45th minute of a 6-1 mauling of New Zealand, which just so happened to be her 100th game in a USA jersey. midfield, the Americans found steady footing in their next match. With a footballing IQ as high as you're likely to find, she knows the secrets of the game no matter where on the field she finds herself playing it.Īnd while the return of long-injured Julie Ertz in a stunning opening-day loss to Sweden (3-0) seemed to upset the balance in the U.S.
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