WhatwasthedrawofjoiningManchester City?
Therearesomanygoodplayersattheclub – I was
excitedbytheideaofplayingwithseveral of the girls
I’vecomeupagainstinternationally.I’ve admired the
ManchesterCitymen’steamoverthepast few years,
butI alsoheardfromCarliLloyd,myold team-mate
[andformerCityplayer],abouthowgood everything
is here.Thefacilitiesareincredible.It’sa new thing for
metohaveeverythingrightthere:weeat breakfast,
wedotreatment,wewatchfilm[footage], we train,
wedoweights,weeatlunch– allin one place. It really
feelslikeyou’regoingtoworkforthefull day, which is
a coolfeeling.Thisisn’ttoinsultNorthCarolina at all,
butit wasa shorterday.
YourformercoachatNorthCarolinaCourage, Paul
Riley,is a Liverpudlian– is it trueyou had to support
Liverpoolwhileplayingunderhim?
Therunningjokeis thatwheneverLiverpool won, Paul
wouldgoeasieronus...sowekindofbecame Liverpool
fansbecauseofthewayit affectedus!
TheWSLis a newexperienceforyou. What were you
lookingforwardtothemost?
Well,onethingthat’sbeenconvenientis that we don’t
havetogetona planetomatches– that’s a lot easier.
Otherthanthat,therearesomanygood players here
thatyouknowthecompetitionis going to be good. My
movecameatanidealtimewhereI could get some
gamesin.I’mhonouredtobeatManchester City now.
Manchester: hit or miss so far?
Honestly, the weather has been really nice! Every time
it’s sunny, I get at least one person warning me not to
get used to it – I think people are obsessed with the
weather here. Otherwise, there are lots of great places
for coffee and food, and I’m excited to explore more.
I feel right at home here.Rose Lavelle told us that the World Cup win didn’t
change her life much. How was it for you?
At first, you have the rose-tinted glasses on, thinking,
‘Oh my god, what a wonderful world’. It was awesome
and 100 per cent a highlight of my life, but when you
have a growth mindset, you can’t rely on past success.
Rose and I talk a lot about acting as though it never
happened; to just keep pushing forward. You know what
happened – you want to do it again. I want to make the
Olympics and win another World Cup, so it’s important
to keep doing what I did before. It’s a nice memory to
have, but we’re always thinking about the next thing.Your older sister, Kristie, has also played for the
USWNT. How competitive was your childhood?
She’ll always say that she wasn’t competitive with me,
which might be true, but I was obsessed with being as
good as her. I always wanted to play one-vs-one but
I knew I’d lose, so it was kind of a nightmare. But she
paved the way for me in so many ways. She went to
a Division One college first, made the national team
first, and made them both seem very possible for me.access to meaningful data that is accurate
and clear, as you can’t just go off a Wikipedia
page, but it’s far better now.”
Although Makel does have the luxury of
additional funds compared to Manchester
City’s WSL rivals, increased competition at
the summit of women’s football means that
landing top targets isn’t straightforward. For
one thing, Spanish giants Real Madrid have
finally integrated their women’s team this
year, after Manchester United at last caught
up with modern football in 2018. The likes of
Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid,
Wolfsburg, Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon all
want to sign the finest talent, too, and even
developing clubs such as Spurs have proved
that they are capable of attracting a player
of Morgan’s calibre in the short term.
“Recruitment is very tough,” admits Makel,
“because there are fewer top-quality players
in the women’s game than in the men’s, and
that’s just because of the numbers. That will
increase, because worldwide participation is
increasing, but at the moment you’re always
going to be fighting for that top talent.”CHASING THE DREAM
‘Sustainability’ is the buzzword now echoing
around women’s football, and with good
reason. A dig into every WSL club’s accountsSamMewisarrivedfromtheStatesthissummerwithherBFF, Lavelle, and
she’slovinghernewlifeas an adopted Manc, right down to the small talk“PEOPLE ARE OBSESSED WITH THE
WEATHER HERE – EVERY DAY I GET
SOmEOnE WARn I nG ME ABOUT IT!”
WSL
58 November 2020 FourFourTwo