Two-time World Cup champion Ali Krieger recently swapped her cleats and her long decorated career as one of the world's best soccer players for a microphone and camera, joining ESPN as an analyst for NWSL matches and co-host of "FutbolW."
Krieger had a remarkable 18-year career playing professional soccer across the U.S., Germany and Sweden, where she won two World Cups for the U.S. women's national team and also led Gotham FC to the club's first NWSL Championship. Known on the field for her relentless, disciplined, and body-on-the-line-mentality, Krieger has adapted her skillset and experience to the analyst role.
Krieger has a lot to balance. She's a mother, she's in and out of the studio, and she's still very involved with Gotham FC. And Krieger admits that the adjustment to this new career phase has its challenges. And that includes sometimes providing sharp commentary about players she lined up with, or against, on the pitch.
"I'm glad a lot of my friends are retired now - I don't have to criticize them in a negative way!" she said with a laugh. "I feel like I could be confident in those criticisms, not that I do it often, but I have to be realistic too, right? I think it's all just been really interesting, kind of, having my own structure and having to plan my own day to day. I think that's been difficult for me, because you don't have that grounding... where you don't really get that in the studio. I think that's just going to take time."
On the broadcast, Krieger is dialed in. She brings a worldly perspective from her playing days. She understands the ins and outs of the national team, but also how domestic leagues function - or don't. And while Krieger is still adapting to life off the soccer pitch, she still competes. In fact, INDIVISA caught up with her as she was on the way to the field, sipping on her Optimum Nutrition - her golden fuel these days - as she trains for her team's upcoming competition in TST.
"As a working mom and busy broadcasting," she says, "I still want to make sure I'm fueling my body with the proper whey protein so I can perform at its best, right?"
Krieger talked the about the brilliance of Emma Hayes, U.S. players moving to Europe, the trajectory of the NWSL and more in the latest edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.