The weeks following the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics left national team players throughout the NWSL reeling.
“The first word that comes to mind is ‘roller coaster,’” Canadian and Orlando Pride defender Shelina Zadorsky said.
New Zealand captain and Orlando Pride defender Ali Riley said she cried when the news first broke — not from disappointment, but from the sheer realization the disaster powerful enough to change the course of an Olympic Games.
“When things like this are announced, it’s still pretty overwhelming,” Riley said. “It’s just another concrete kind of factor that’s showing how much stress our world is in and how serious this is and that this really is such a big crisis.