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United States women’s national team captain Lindsey Horan opened her remarks to reporters by addressing the reaction to her comments about American fans’ knowledge of soccer, made in an interview with The Athletic published earlier this month.
“First of all, I would like to apologize to our fans,” Horan said while speaking during a virtual availability ahead of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. “Some of my comments were poorly phrased and I learned a big lesson.”
In his interview with The Athletic, Horan shared her frustrations with how game viewers took comments at face value before joking that her mother did it while watching USWNT games. On Thursday he took time to clarify and express his gratitude to fans.
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“When I think about our fans, I love them so much. The team loves them so much and I can’t begin to explain how much they mean to us. Every time we go out and train, every time we go out and play, you know we play for you,” Horan said. “You are our inspiration, our motivation, and seeing you wear our jerseys and shout our names and chant USA, that’s what we play for and I never wanted to take any of that away.
“Continuing with that, the culture of soccer in the United States is changing and growing a lot in a very positive way. For me to experience that firsthand, playing for this US women’s national team, but also in the NWSL and for the Portland Thorns, is just incredible. It is an absolute honor for me, and I will always say it, to be able to wear this shield every day. To be in this environment, to go out and play in front of our fans and represent this national team, that’s something; I repeat, it is my greatest honor. … The last thing I wanted to do was offend anyone like that. So again, I deeply, deeply apologize.”
When asked to clarify what he meant by his original comments, Horan responded that he didn’t think “what I meant really matters at this point.” He said he is simply “a football brain” who loves to watch as much football as possible.
“I love talking about it and the way people talk about Manchester City, Arsenal, the old Barcelona,” he said. “That’s what I want people to say about us. “I want people to talk about how incredible we are with the ball, possession, style of play, technical ability, tactical changes mid-game, that kind of stuff.”
Horan said he apologized for how he was feeling and wanted to “express how much the fans mean to me personally.”
Of the tournament ahead (the inaugural W Gold Cup), Horan joked that the goal is “the trophy.”
More seriously, he said the team’s main goal is to win, but it is also a perfect preparation for the Olympics because of the format and schedule of the tournament. “What we do here can really train us and prepare us mentally for what we have to face in France,” he said. “We took each game at a time and got better throughout the tournament, and we just kept increasing what we tried to do and how we tried to play.”
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Horan emphasized several times that he believes every player on the roster should be used during the Gold Cup to help some players get minutes in the tournament and more time on the field, and that the USWNT should take advantage of this time on the field together. before the Olympics.
“It’s not just the new young people, it’s all of us,” he said. “We are all progressing together and remain a team. “Everyone needs to be on the same page before the Olympics, but first of all, the first game here in the Gold Cup.”
(Photo: Brennan Asplen, Getty Images)