Tobin Heath had almost everything a football player could ask for during his seven years with the Portland Thorns. He won trophies playing with world-class teammates. Her abilities have provoked deafening roars from the world’s largest women’s club fan base. The city has become an authentic home for the natives of Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
The coronavirus pandemic has replaced him a lot. The Olympic Games have been postponed. The NWSL season has been reduced to a summer tournament in a neutral location and some low-risk fall games. The gates of Providence Park will be closed to enthusiasts for a while. Portland is still his home, but much of his life.
The 32-year-old took the opportunity to pay attention to some other component of herself who had been there for a long time: the one who evolved the episodes with French Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 and 2014. return to Europe one day, this time to England.
Heath knew the country’s women’s league was developing and, like many American women, aspired to be part of the country’s crazy football culture, when the call came this summer to ask him if he would like to sign for Manchester United for a season. , she said yes.
“Every chance you have in life to do something exclusive and that will challenge and push you is an opportunity I need to seize, especially as a footballer,” he said. “Our careers are very short, and you know, I’ve been very patient in my expectation of our quarantine and lockdown in the US. America at some point, you never know what the right resolution is, however, you have to take one, and I decided to come, and I’m actually happy. “
READ ALSO: Manchester United signs Tobin Heath and Christen Press
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A post shared through Tobin Powell Heath (@tobinheath) on September 22, 2020 at 11:24 p. m. Pdt
Heath may have run out of trouble in Portland, a position she called “an environment that in the end is perfect” for her.
“The setup there, the people, the commitment to the sport, the expansion of the league, playing in front of the enthusiasts all the time, I mean, is the last thing in women’s football everywhere,” she said.
But he also felt a preference for doing something different.
“As a footballer, I’m never satisfied with my stage and I love betting as a player,” she said. “The only position you can do is when you’re uncomfortable and when you’re home for a long time, that’s not all. “
Heath is one of the five American stars who moved to England this summer. His national team colleague, friend and business spouse off the field, Christen Press, also joined United; Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle are on the other side of town in Manchester City; and Alex Morgan is in London at Tottenham Hotspur, his moment in Europe after playing for France in Lyon in 2017.
It will be a spectacle to watch them play in some of the most important football clubs, not just in women’s football.
“You have such a young history in terms of soccer in the US, so it’s whatever – it will definitely bring one more weight to the jersey, I think,” Heath said. “Honestly, I was really excited when I saw this. Rose and Sam were coming over because I thought, you know, it was a very awkward moment, and putting your career [on hold at NWSL] and being uncomfortable and making that move, I thought, it was huge. this, because it is not a simple decision.
Many foreign NWSL players have also moved to England. Thorns’ former teammate Caitlin Foord is one of the few Australians to sign for Arsenal; Jess Fishlock of OL Reign is in reading; Rachel Daly of Houston is in West Ham; and Denise O’Sullivan of North Carolina is in Brighton, who will travel to United on October 4 for what is expected to be the debut of Heath and Press.
READ ALSO: How to watch the FA Women’s Super League on TV and online
United’s women’s team is in its 3rd season, the lack of equipment in the face of a challenge for many other people in women’s football, and the club not only excuses to solve it, now United is appearing their commitment not only to have a team, but also to make it a vital issue.
“It’s something they continue to depend on every day on their setup, and on the way they exercise and how they grow,” Heath said. “I think it shows, with the club that brings christen and me, that they are very ambitious and need to compete now, they don’t need to wait. And that’s exactly what I like to do. “
Although Heath has long been thinking about the game in England, his taste for the game is as far away from English as possible. She modeled her game in the magic of Brazil’s artistic wizards. Its catalog of dribble, videos and steps competes with all the greats of the game and surpasses all that have ever been noticed in this country.
Still, she was attracted to the development of the Premier League when she began her own expansion in the United States. However, Heath was not attracted to United. She has long been an Arsenal fan, encouraged through the dynasty of Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry in the early 2000s. His biggest contrast is the club Heath now calls home. Clashes between Arsenal and United right now remain legendary.
“It’s already a little strange, ” he admitted with a smile.
“All my football, my presentation, even my coaches, the most came from Europe, especially from England,” he said. “When I was a child, I had to shop, it is a lot to go out with me, but I deserve to literally buy tapes of games, groups and highlights and insert them [so that] I can see them, be informed about the leagues and the players. Now everything is so easily available, which is for any fan of WE “
Heath will have many notable teammates beyond the press: Dutch midfielder Jacky Groenen, English midfielders Katie Zelem and Lucy Staniforth, and up-and-coming Spanish side Ona Batlle. English forward Leah Galton also has an American connection: he played school football at Hofstra and I spent two years at Sky Blue FC.
The WSL’s big three, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, have far more skill than that, and breaking their dominance may not be easy, but Heath has already earned many United enthusiasts just by signing. win games for them.
“It is so vital for clubs with all tradition, history, power, influence; We see it in America all the time, how much the badge and the club mean,” Heath said. “It’s huge for them to have a women’s team and see the progress they’ve made and what they’ve put into it is very encouraging for the global game as a whole. We want more and I am satisfied to be a component of it ».
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