As Corey Baird walked into the locker room of the United States Men’s National Team to prepare for his first-ever international appearance, his eyes fixated on one of the blue jerseys. On it read his last name and the number 7.
It was a moment that harkened back to when Baird was a kid, dreaming about playing soccer for his country on the same field as those he idolized. In the months before, he’d been named Major League Soccer’s Rookie of the Year and was integral in Real Salt Lake’s playoff run that stopped just a couple goals short of a Western Conference Finals appearance.