After her heartbreaking exit from the Tokyo Olympics, Alyssa Naeher is back with the U.S. women’s national team.
When the injury occurred, Naeher was coming off one of her best performances ever. She had saved a penalty kick at the end of regulation and two more in a shootout against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
“This game can be kind of cruel to go from such a high to such a low that quickly,” she said. “For me, it’s just not taking anything for granted. You never know when an injury is going to pop up. It’s just a little bit more of enjoying every part of it, enjoying every training session again, enjoying every meeting, all the physical therapy sessions.”
She’s known as one of the steadiest goalkeepers in the world. At the 2019 World Cup in France, Naeher smothered a penalty in the United States’ 2-1 semifinal win over England. It was the first-ever penalty save by a U.S. goalkeeper in regulation in soccer’s premier tournament.