LONDON (AP) – Returning to Old Trafford this week, Tobin Heath returned eight years to one of the craziest Olympic games ever played.
Heath remembers it as an epic. The United States followed Canada three times and three times the attack was leveled through the Americans before Alex Morgan sealed his way to the final and a fourth Olympic title.
“It reminded me of a lot of memories and is such an iconic position for any footballer,” Heath said, recalling Monday at Manchester United Stadium.
Behind the two-time Olympic champion in this video call, there was even a Lego mock-up of the stadium she hoped to be assembled.
Heath hopes to play again soon at Old Trafford. The winger is luckier now that he has signed for Manchester United, the women’s Super League team not yet playing in the stadium that has hosted the men’s team for 110 years.
“The field has that iconic feeling, ” said Heath. “It’s almost elevated, as if it were almost a scene for the players. “
United did not even have a women’s team when the Olympic Games were held in the city of northern England in 2012; it was not reformed until 2018 after being scrapped thirteen years earlier. The promotion secured in the first department in its first season, and United opened their WSL moment crossed with a win over Birmingham and a draw with champion Chelsea.
“It’s huge for a club like this to have a women’s team,” Heath said. “It is for clubs with all this tradition, history, power and influence. “
After seven years at Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Football League, Heath, 32, will play for the time being at an outdoor club in his home country after spending time at Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 and 2014.
This movement is the result of the coronavirus pandemic, which closed the NWSL in March. The NWSL is the first professional team game to return to the United States with the Challenge Cup tournament in a bubble in Utah this summer, but Heath decided to retire.
While the NWSL plays a fall series, the games are regional to reduce travel and the games do not count as a normal season. Instead, many players have chosen to point with groups abroad, that is, in England, to see a significant festival in the off-season. especially with the uncertainty about the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and the upcoming Olympics next summer.
Christen Press, winner of the World Cup, also joined United. On the way from Manchester to City are Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis, and Tottenham added Morgan last week.
“I love learning and I love to develop and push, and at this point in my career it’s a wonderful position to do it,” Heath said. “It was a wonderful opportunity to play a full season and compete for a name and that’s what I needed and it was a wonderful position for that.
Heath relied on recordings of English men’s games to get his dose as a young man.
“I literally buy fit tapesArray . . . to ask about the league and the players,” he said.
She became addicted to Arsenal, an opposing team that will now play in the WSL.
“It will be another feeling, ” said Heath. ” It’s a little strange now. “
It’s also for Heath that the November assembly with Arsenal is being held at Leigh Sports Village on the outskirts of Manchester, rather than Old Trafford.
“I had all the feeling when I got here,” he said, “and the dream of each and every footballer would be to play for Manchester United and play at Old Trafford. “
___
More AP Football: https://apnews. com/Soccer and https://twitter. com/AP_Sports