Ali Krieger - Best RB of the Decade (2010-2019) USWNT
The Best XI is always tough to agree on. 10 years is a very long time & earning a spot here is gonna be tough. 2010-2019. Here’s why Ali Krieger deserves to be here & why I’ve been such a fan of her fantastic international career all these years:
Can’t tell you how much I love that Ali made her third World Cup team and played in her third World Cup Final match this year. She played meaningful, crucial minutes in the biggest games of the 2019 World Cup, including the entire second half of the Final. She played every single minute of the 2011 World Cup, made the iconic, game-winning Penalty kick vs Brazil, & was deservedly named best RB of the whole tournament. All this while playing in her adopted pro league home country of Germany. It was kind of a fairy tale, til the end.
Krieger played all but 10 minutes of the 2015 World Cup (getting subbed off at the end of the Columbia game so Lori Chalupny could make an appearance in the tournament ). Ali was a vital part of that vaunted Dept of Defense, & missed scoring a goal by an inch in the China game. No defender has played a more important role in so many World Cup tournaments than Ali Krieger, except arguably Christie Pearce Rampone. Pearcie superhumanly played in 5 World Cup tournaments, but only played 17 minutes total in 1999, and 14 minutes total in 2015.
In 2003 Christie Pearce Rampone played full 90s in 4 of the 6 matches. In 2007 she started all 6 matches, only missing 58 minutes total of the whole tournament. And in 2011 she played every minute of every match, right alongside Ali Krieger. Honestly, the two legendary defenders rank pretty equally in this comparison. Ali Krieger’s clutch, game winning PK in 2011 gives her the edge in my book, but Christie was the long-time captain of the team too so that definitely counts for something extra.
And for more current defenders in this comparison - well nobody even comes close to Ali Krieger. Becky Sauerbrunn (all hail) played every minute of 2015 (alongside Kriegs). And Broon started & played full 90s in 6 of the 7 matches in 2019 (she sat out the first game vs Thailand). So Becky Sauerbrunn is right there with Ali & Christie through 2 WC tournaments, but I’ll be surprised if she makes the 2023 squad so it’s unlikely she’ll be able to match Ali Krieger or Christie Pearce Rampone for a WC #3 impact. Never say never though, right?
I’m not sure why this achievement of Ali Krieger’s matters so much to me. I think a lot of it has to do with defenders, in general, and Ali in particular, never getting any credit or fanfare for the hard work they do.
Christie Pearce Rampone (2007 & 2011) & Ali Krieger (2011 & 2015) were rock-solid, non-stop, all-star defenders in back to back World Cups. That’s hard enough to do. Becky Sauerbrunn did the same in 2015 & 2019. There’s an argument there for Julie Ertz too (mostly a MF in 2019).
But to then add on a 3rd World Cup tournament where you’re a valuable contributor to the team’s backline - that’s just amazing. And when you factor in the steep climb Ali Krieger had to make to even get back on the squad in 2019 in the 1st place - it’s really just remarkable.
Like, you can’t make this shit up, right? Ali Krieger came back from the black hole she had been banished to, made the team, & kicked ass like she hadn’t missed a day with the squad. The WC Final even ended with the ball at her feet. I think about the poetry of that a lot.
Warrior is the right fucking name for Ali Krieger & her story with the #USWNT. No doubt about it. She deserved her agonizingly delayed 100th cap celebration. She deserves her spot in the Best XI of the Decade. And she deserves all the love & respect & thanks we fans can give her.
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