Kennedy Fuller: The teenage USWNT prospect who idolized Carli Lloyd, trained with Emma Hayes' Chelsea and is making a name for herself at Angel City

Getting starstruck as an up-and-coming soccer prospect is par for the course, especially in the United States, where the stars of tomorrow are so often based in the NWSL, meaning they are either playing with or against those they have watched win World Cup titles and Olympic gold medals for their country. Kennedy Fuller is no different. She's trained with Alex Morgan and can call Christen Press her team-mate. These are realities that would've surely been beyond her wildest dreams as a young girl.

But the name of Marta, the Brazil icon who is widely considered the greatest women's soccer player of all time, is that which Fuller blurts out when asked who has made her the most starstruck, either as a team-mate or an opponent, in her young career to date. "Oh my gosh, every time I watch her or have played against her, every time she gets the ball, I'm like, 'She's going to do something amazing'," she told the Athletic's Full Time podcast.

The 18-year-old, who is part of the United States' squad for the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship this week, has faced Marta three times since signing for Angel City and, sure enough, the Brazilian has always conjured up some magic, with her goal in their most recent meeting kickstarting the Orlando Pride's 3-2 comeback win. One could argue, though, that only Marta herself put on a better individual performance in that game than Fuller, who has been making a real name for herself as one of the most promising talents in the U.S. for a while now - but is going to new levels in 2025...