St. Louis has a super-rich history of soccer, so I was very fortunate growing up to have coaches that played.

We like to be kind of at the forefront for how all football federations should treat their female athletes.

The women's national team is a very successful team, and that success has given us a platform to speak on gender equity issues. Millions of young women play soccer in this country, and it's empowering for them to see that our contribution to the game is valued.

In soccer, female athletes across the world wear shoes that are not meant for us, our feet, or our game.

I can easily be lying in the gutter with someone kicking mud in my face tomorrow as easily as I can float in the clouds with angels sprinkling fairy dust in my hair. So, I make an effort to treat both success and failure equally.

In the U.S., my whole life, I felt like I had to be the best and score more goals and run with more fitness so I could be the one in the limelight. I think that when I went to Sweden, I found the joy of being part of a team and contributing to everybody's success.

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

The secret behind success isn't as much of a secret as people think. It's pretty simple. It's working as hard as you can to accomplish what you want.