I'm grateful for all of our fans because at the end of the day, they give us purpose.

I love Chicago. I think it's an amazing city.

I think the American sports culture has the idea that professional athletes need so much, like flying private planes, which obviously we don't, but that's the American sports culture when they think of the NFL and the NBA.

As a goal scorer, my focus is always on converting my chances and being clinical in the box. That's my No. 1 priority.

I remember, playing in college especially, I cried in almost every game I played. I just felt so much stress and pressure that I was letting everyone down if I didn't score a goal or win the game. I carried that weight with me into every game.

When I started playing in Sweden, there was nobody watching. No one knew who I was, so I was just playing for the love of the game. And after my first season, my coach came up to me and said, 'Of all the people you're the one who smiles the most on the field,' and that was the biggest compliment I ever received.

I remember playing games and having tears roll down my face because it felt like it was never going to be good enough.

Stanford's an amazing, amazing school. It was an extraordinary soccer program.

I think that during college, I would say I did not enjoy playing soccer.

I've always felt like my job is to protect my sister. Even growing up, on the playground, when my sister was too shy, I would speak for her... I even had dreams where I had to save her, growing up, all the time - like, she was falling, and I had to save her.

In my time abroad, I learned to become a more complete player.

I'm very organized. I have my day-to-day schedule, every 15 minutes, written out.

My first year with Gothenburg was the most carefree because I was playing on a middle-of-the-table team in Sweden. It was a lot less of the global attention.

I think my most happy and carefree state was 2012 because I really did say, 'Forget everything. I'm going to play for myself.'

If I couldn't get to the national team, I wanted to get as much as I could out of soccer, and I think moving abroad was my opportunity to do that. I think that, in turn, playing with that freedom and that spirit allowed me to play a lot better. I escalated my game quickly just by being happy.

I'm the kind of person where I look to myself a lot on how I can get better. What little, nuanced differences can I make?

If I simply stay in that moment on the pitch and read the game, I can do so much more.

We stress out over things we can't control. So if something is a stressor, you can just simply take the power away from it by focusing on something else.

The European leagues have been there a long time, the coaches have been there, the clubs have been there, there's history to the teams. There's already that football support culture.

For a long time growing up, I thought that everything happens for a reason and it's kind of already written. But as I've grown and learned various things, I think that the most important moment is the one that you're in, and that's the only moment that matters, that you can really control. The future is unknown, and the past is history.

I encourage all players to work to be their best, which includes looking for opportunities beyond the playing field.

The tremendous honor of playing on the world stage is even more rewarding when I am able to use my accomplishments to help others.

The tactics in NWSL are so chaotic. It's so about physicality. It's both teams attacking with nine players, and it's just so open on the transitions, really fast-paced to the point of being out of control. The Damallsvenskan is a little extreme on the other side: it's so under control, there are 20 passes strung before you even go forward.

I think, in the U.S., we have such a focus on the physicality, on being the best athlete, that it sort of overshadows the football aspect of it.