Thanksgiving is officially here, at least for those in the United States. A day of turkey, stuffing, family and a truck load of football - the American kind.
But what about the American football stars who have plied their trade across the pond playing the other football? As the Women's Super League continues to grow in prominence and quality, more and more American footballers are featuring in the top-flight of the English system.
Naturally, a ranking order must follow suit. But to celebrate Thanksgiving for those players, Mirror Football has put together a list of the best American players to don their boots in the Women’s Super League.
Sam Mewis
It is remarkable to think Mewis did not make the cut for the USWNT’s 2015 World Cup or 2016 Olympic squads. All the more so when one considers how immediate and enduring her impact in the Women’s Super League was.
Arriving to Manchester City in August 2020, the Mewis fanfare was initially light but only for so long. The forward made 32 appearances and scored 16 goals for the club, including the winner against Arsenal in the semi-final of the delayed 2019-20 Women’s FA Cup before repeating the deed in the final against Everton in extra-time to defend City’s title.
The season saw City finish second in the league for the fourth consecutive season, losing out to Chelsea. Mewis was named to the FA WSL PFA Team of the Year, as well as US Soccer’s 2020 Female Player of the Year.
Crystal Dunn
Crystal Dunn has won almost every trophy imaginable, team and individual, so it should come with little shock that she was one of the many Americans who enjoyed a stint in the WSL, however brisk.
Moving to Chelsea in 2017, Dunn notched five goals in 20 appearances across all competitions, her first arriving just 12 minutes into her first competitive appearances in a 7-0 FA Cup rout of Doncaster Rovers Belles. Moving from striker to wing-back, Dunn helped Chelsea to win the FA WSL Spring Series as well as reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, marking the first time the Blues reached that stage of the competition.
Nevertheless, her English cavort was cut short due to fears that distance from the national team set-up could negatively impact her selection chances for the 2019 World Cup. She returned to the US before the end of the season.
Carly Lloyd
A player synonymous with footballing success, Lloyd spent a spell in the WSL with Manchester City while on loan from NWSL side Houston Dash in 2017. The star power came in handy for manager Nick Cushing. Lloyd – two-time FIFA world player of the year, World Cup winner and double Olympic champion – headed in the third goal for City’s 4-1 victory over Birmingham City in the FA Cup final at Wembley, ensuring City became the first team to clutch all three major trophies at once.
Lloyd didn’t get to relish a proper goodbye from the WSL, receiving her marching orders late in May after elbowing Yeovil Town’s Annie Heatherson in the face. The three-match ban received for violent conduct ran for the remainder of her loan stay.
Christen Press
The 2019 World Cup winner needed to keep herself sharp when the pandemic hit. Savvily engineering a move to Manchester United in 2020 paid dividends. Press made 17 appearances for United and scored four goals, including one of the first goals ever scored by United’s womens' side at Old Trafford. While illness halted her season during the festive period, her intent was there for all to see.
Press formed the star-studded duo with compatriot Tobin Heath who represented the most high-profile signings the club had managed in its women’s football history. Cruelly, then, United fans were never given the chance to see the two superstars play live in the United colours when the pair left the WSL following the conclusion of their one-year deals.
Tobin Heath
Arriving to United with Press, Heath helped inject a winner’s edge into then-manager Casey Stoney’s squad, which saw United begin their journey to challenging the historic big three sides.
Still, the midfielder’s time at United is cruel in more ways than one. Not only failing to get the chance to play in front of adoring fans, her time was cut short by an ankle injury in training, seeing her out for the remainder of the season.
Across 11 appearances, Heath found the back of the net four times and showed off plenty of her footballing prowess and invention.
She had another crack at life in the WSL with a spell at Women's Super League the following season, but despite scoring against title rivals Manchester City, Heath was ruled out for the conclusion of the season with a minor hamstring injury sustained in training. The player and club agreed to mutually terminate her contract early.
Alex Morgan
Arguably the biggest move from across the pond, Alex Morgan’s signing for Tottenham for the 2020/21 season grabbed the most headlines and for good reason. The World Cup winner and US star is one of the most recognisable sports stars in the world. That everyone seemed willing to forgive and forget 2019's tea-drinking incident spoke to the power of Morgan's stardom, but her time at Spurs is an odd one.
Using Spurs as a means of gaining fitness after giving birth to daughter Charlie, fans eagerly anticipating Morgan’s on-pitch exploits were often left watching the star huddled up in a blanket on the touchline. After five appearances and two goals for the club, Morgan returned to the United States. But her presence in the dressing room for Spurs cannot be underestimated. Her aura and mentality was attributed to Spurs’ turnaround that season.
Rose Lavelle (Honourable mention)
Watching Rose Lavelle is an undisputed joy as much as a geometry lesson. If there is an angle to exploit, Lavelle will find it, but the USWNT star was never really able to boast that element of her game while with Manchester City.
An unfortunate slog of injuries plagued her early in her spell, leading Kiera Walsh, Caroline Wier and Sam Mewis to claim the midfield three positions. The second half of the season saw Lavelle start most matches on the bench, drifting more swiftly into the footnotes of matches than the headlines.
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