Naeher: ‘Nervous’ to tell Hayes about retiring

United States women’s national team goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said she was “nervous” to tell manager Emma Hayes about her intention to retire from international soccer, but that it was a “great conversation” and that Hayes was “very supportive.”

Naeher announced her decision to retire from the USWNT on Monday, making upcoming friendlies against England at Wembley Stadium on Nov. 3, and against the Netherlands in The Hague three days later, her last opportunities to play internationally. She will continue to play at club level for the Chicago Red Stars.

Naeher said she wanted Hayes’ blessing before going public with her decision.

“Yeah, I was nervous. I think as much as I am at peace with the decision — I know that in my head it’s the right time and I feel good about it and I feel at peace with it — it’s still the end of something,” she said.

Mandy Haught of the Utah Royals and Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce. There’s also the North Carolina Courage’s Casey Murphy, the Houston Dash’s Jane Campbell and the Washington Spirit’s Aubrey Kingsbury with whom to contend.

“I’m excited about the crop of goalkeepers that we have coming up,” Naeher said. “I think what I’ve tried to at least show and instill in the future generations is just the power of preparation, the mindset going into training, the preparedness of what it looks like to be able to play at this level.

“And I think having that, we’ve always been able to have in this environment, as competitive as it is, it’s always also been very supportive.

“And I think being able to find that balance within as training partners and as teammates.

“Obviously everybody wants to be on the field, only one can be at a time, but having that balance of pushing each other each and every single day in training and then also supporting whoever’s on the field at any given time because it’s going to come back around to you and you’ll get that same support when you are on the field and that just goes a long way.”

Source: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/42645746/usa-keeper-naeher-nervous-tell-hayes-retirement

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