Midfielder Korbin Albert scored her first international goal on Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. women’s national team player to score their first goal in the Olympics.
It was undeniably a great shot, with Albert letting it fly from distance into the upper left corner of the goal, and it proved to be the game-winner for the USWNT in its 2-1 win over Australia.
“I actually closed my eyes and then I opened them, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, it went in,’” Albert told ESPN of the goal. “You’ve always dreamed of having those types of goals, and when you come to this level and you just do that thing that you dreamed about, it just feels very rewarding.”
The significance of the goal did not go unnoticed, by her teammates, her coaches, or the fans. It comes four months after Albert drew criticism for sharing anti-LGBTQIA+ videos on social media, including one that made light of the injury to USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe in the NWSL Championship last November.
Albert issued an apology on her Instagram stories on March 28 following criticism from Rapinoe earlier that day, writing that she was “really disappointed in myself.” (Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours, so her apology is no longer viewable online.)
“I truly believe that everyone should feel safe and respected everywhere and on all playing fields,” she continued. “I know my actions have not lived up to that and for that I sincerely apologize. It’s an honor and a privilege to get to play this sport on the world stage and I promise to do better.”
USWNT veterans Alex Morgan and Lindsey Horan addressed the matter in the following days, saying that the team was doing internal work with Albert in response to the posts.
But since then, the team hasn’t given any light to what that internal work might be and Albert has been met with boos anytime she has stepped on the pitch for a USWNT game. They could be heard on Wednesday as well when she was subbed on in the final third.
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Criticisms have also rolled in from former players, due in part to Albert’s reluctance to publicly address the posts. Others have critiqued the federation as well for its lack of a public response. For example, Christen Press called out U.S. Soccer on “The RE-CAP Show” on June 20 for not doing more in light of the posts — particularly given that the posts were “an external matter.”
“I think that’s a hard thing to say, when it was an external matter,” Press said of the team insisting that internal work is being done. “The tweets, TikToks, Instagrams, those are external. So I think to a certain extent it needed to be handled publicly. And I also think that there’s an opportunity to show how to handle this.”
“You have an opportunity as an institution, I’m talking about U.S. Soccer, to show a good way to create a culture that doesn’t just monetize Pride, but actually protects people’s feelings and psychological safety and physical safety,” Press continued. “And you could actually create that culture, but you have to do so in a way that’s consistent and in a way that’s not reactionary. And instead of any repercussions [for Albert] — because as far as I know there was none at all — it fell on our captains to do a press conference and be expected to have some miracle. But it’s not an individual code of conduct. It’s U.S. Soccer’s code of conduct.”
Press also noted that people do deserve the opportunity “to learn and grow and be educated” but that institutions are responsible for creating that environment.
“And I think that’s where I was disappointed,” she said. “The women’s soccer community is beyond disappointed. And what I would like to say to all of the people that have been so hurt is there are so many of us USWNT players past and present, club, professional players past and present, that we are side by side with you in this. You are not our fans, we are your community together, and we share the hurt and the sadness of what this series of events brought to us.”
Current national team members have also spoken up since that press conference with Morgan and Horan. In June, forward Trinity Rodman said that the team was behind Albert.
“Having strong opinions is difficult, especially when you are looked at a lot and you have a platform to do so,” she told Vanity Fair. “Obviously, getting booed is horrible, but there’s people that have their opinions and have their beliefs and they’re not always going to match up with those,” Rodman said. “For us, she’s on the U.S. women’s national team and we’re going to be her teammates and support her.
“When she comes on the field, she’s just like everybody else wearing that number and playing for our country, and she’s working her butt off to do so.”
Ahead of the team’s first group-stage game, defender Tierna Davidson – one of the team’s openly LGBTQIA+ players – spoke about the situation on the “Good Game with Sarah Spain” podcast, calling it a “difficult situation.”
“I think it’s a difficult situation that has obviously affected me personally given what she was speaking on,” Davidson said on July 23. “I think that it is something that you have to learn as a young player, especially with the platform that you’re given, is your beliefs or how you choose to express certain things is very public and people do look and listen.”
She also acknowledged that Albert has learned how her views and opinions can hurt others.
“We have to learn from what we do in our lives and how people react to it and understand the hurt that we can cause. I think that it’s difficult because as a team, we have always wanted to be very welcoming to all of our fans, to all players that walk through the locker room,” she continued. “Whether or not it’s something you grew up with, or it was instilled upon you from a young age, and you might not know better, it is something that can hurt other people.”
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When naming Albert to the Olympic squad, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes called her a “tremendous human being.” She also noted that Albert had made the team because of “what she offers for us in the midfield.”
“There’s no denying there’s been a lot of work that’s been going on in the background to work with Korbin. As I’ve expressed on several occasions, I think it’s really important that everybody in this team understands the importance of not just being tolerant and respectful, and understanding the things that matter to all of us,” Hayes said on June 26.
“Korbin has had to learn, and my experiences with her — this is a young person who understands fully the implications of social media activity. I’m not going to go into that in great detail because that’s between Korbin and I, but the conversations we have had have been to talk about the importance of what we have to be mindful of, and how we are all part of an environment that’s one that appreciates and understands what that can do.”
After Wednesday’s game, Hayes said that her instincts have been to protect Albert, especially as she’s grown up quickly in the past four months. But she also made clear that she’s been upfront with Albert that her growth as a person and a teammate will be an ongoing process.
“We all know that she’s been through a lot with her actions and she’s someone who is truly sorry for what she’s done,” Hayes told ESPN. “I’m a mother and my instinct is to protect, and I’m never ever going to change that, but I don’t tolerate [that], and we want an environment where people can feel they can be their self. … She’s had to do a fair bit of growing up.”
