When Samantha Mewis wakes up on an off-day, shakes any urge to take it easy and pushes through that extra workout, the U.S. women’s national team midfielder is driven, in equal parts, by competition and camaraderie.
As a 2019 World Cup champion and U.S. Soccer’s 2020 female player of the year, Mewis will come up in most conversations about the best player in today’s game. But the same could be said of Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle, Mewis’s midfield cohorts and fellow World Cup winners, all of whom landed in the top 25 of ESPN’s recent ranking of the sport’s finest talents.