Alyssa Thompson has opened up on her first World Cup experience, admitting she felt sad and lonely at times during the tournament.
Thompson was the youngest player on the U.S. women’s national team roster, making her first World Cup squad at age 18.
The forward played in two of the USWNT’s four matches at the World Cup, making two appearances off the bench for a total of just over 15 minutes. The U.S. crashed out of the tournament in the last 16, falling to Sweden to seal the team’s worst-ever finish at a World Cup.
In an appearance on The RE-CAP Show with Tobin Heath and Christen Press, Thompson’s teammate with Angel City FC, the teenager admitted she felt low on confidence at times during the World Cup.
“Once we went to Auckland, I feel like I wasn’t performing as well as I could have,” Thompson said. “I feel like I was in my head a little after my first mistake. I was just like, ‘OK I’m so bad.’ I had a lot of negative talk in my head and I felt like I wasn’t doing as well as I should be doing.”
Thompson said that a few of her younger teammates on the USWNT helped her through some of the tough times.
“A lot of my teammates, like the younger girls, they saw that I was upset and they helped me a lot because they’ve been in my position before, being young on the team and coming up and knowing that you can be hard on yourself a lot. So yeah, they helped a lot.”
Even with the support of her teammates, Thompson admitted that she experienced some isolation during the World Cup.
“Throughout the tournament, there were some days when I was just sad,” Thompson said. “I felt really lonely some days, too. I feel like it’s a lot, that tournament. Playing or not, there’s different things too, and I wasn’t playing that much.
“I was happy for game day. I wasn’t as nervous as most people. I was more excited. I felt a lot like a fan watching the games.”
Thompson has now returned to Angel City, making her first post-World Cup appearance for the club by starting Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Racing Louisville.
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