Casey Phair has yet to turn 17 but she already knows what it is like to live her life in the glare of an intense media spotlight.<\/p>\n
In July last year, aged 16 years and 26 days, the United States-raised striker broke Nigerian Ifeanyi Chiejine\u2019s record to become the youngest player to feature at the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup when she appeared in Korea Republic\u2019s 2-0 loss against Colombia.
\nHer introduction from the bench at Sydney Football Stadium with 12 minutes remaining of the Group H opener was historic, and it was the climax of a two-month build-up that had seen Phair-mania in Korea Republic reach fever pitch.<\/p>\n
It was not only the prospect of Phair setting a new benchmark in Australia that drew media attention to the Seoul-born striker; selection by head coach Colin Bell also made her the first mixed-heritage player \u2013 male or female \u2013 to represent the country at a senior World Cup.<\/p>\n
Some might have been swept away by the circus that ensued, but the level-headed teenager has used the experience to fuel the next step in her remarkable and rapid evolution.
\n\u201cI had never experienced that before, it was my first cap and that two-month period was very intense and there were a lot of ups and downs mentally. But overall it was a dream come true. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince then I\u2019ve grown and matured a lot. The players have said to me before, from that camp to our last Portugal camp, that I had completely changed in maturity.”\u201cI think I understand what it takes to be a professional player now at this level. It really put my development in a lot faster. It sped up my development and my desire to be better sooner. <\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up it was always going to be (go to) college and then turn pro but going to the World Cup and playing with such amazing players on that stage has really made me want to push myself harder and further and become pro earlier so I can keep developing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That next step begins on Sunday when Phair and her new club Angel City FC kick off their 2024 National Women\u2019s Soccer League against Bay City FC at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
\nPhair has signed a three-year contract with a club co-owned by a host of high-profile backers including Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, ex-United States striker Mia Ham and tennis great Serena Williams, with Angel City\u2019s approach particularly appealing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the culture,\u201d she says of her reasons for signing. \u201cThey were so welcoming, the coaches, the front office, I just felt so comfortable within the group and the environment. It felt like I was put in a position to thrive. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a player and a person I felt I was wanted there, as opposed to me just being there and other people having to deal with it. I felt really welcomed and everyone wanted to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people genuinely want to help you and they genuinely want to see you succeed, so with that I felt really comfortable and I was sure I could develop really well with Angel City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phair has already struck up a friendship with new teammate and fellow teenager Gisele Thompson and is relishing working closely with hugely experienced former United States international striker Sydney Laroux, both of whom are on Angel City\u2019s books.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe play the same position and she\u2019s gone through what I\u2019ve gone through,\u201d Phair says of Laroux, who also broke through during her teenage years. \u201cShe\u2019s a veteran player, she\u2019s been in the game a long time and so she\u2019s inspiring. <\/p>\n
\u201cAngel City is a big team in women\u2019s sport and in promoting women\u2019s soccer and I think they\u2019ve inspired me to want to take on that role a bit and, as I get older, to try to be a role model for younger girls that are maybe thinking the same thing that I was thinking last year: Do I want to go pro?\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel City\u2019s offer to play full-time has seen Phair alter her intended course of completing college before embarking on a professional career and, as a result, her schooling has had to move online.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been rough,\u201d she says of the switch. \u201cIt\u2019s different for sure, but it hasn\u2019t been that big of an adjustment. Since the World Cup I\u2019ve been doing a bunch of different things and growing up I moved a lot with my family. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith my family, academics has always been first and soccer has been second. Now being an online student has allowed me to focus more on soccer and it\u2019s taken that stress away but it\u2019s still school work and my parents don\u2019t want me to be a high school dropout.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Phair has been coming to terms with her new life as a professional, she also has one eye on the future and helping Korea Republic build on their performances at the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Australia last year.<\/p>\n
Elimination in the group phase was a disappointing conclusion for the team, whose coach Bell – who Phair says inspired her to make the switch to the professional game – had targeted qualification for the knockout rounds for the first time in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Disappointing losses against Colombia and Morocco were followed by a draw in their final game with Germany, a result that eliminated the former champions from the tournament while also highlighting the ability of the Koreans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was disappointing but I think the last game helped with morale,\u201d says Phair. \u201cWe tied with Germany to knock them out, so we finally showed the world that we are a good side and the football we can play. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat set the tone for this upcoming cycle and it\u2019s what we want to continue to show as we play more friendlies as we continue to grow as a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we can develop as a team, not just myself,\u201d she adds, with the focus now on the AFC Women\u2019s Asian Cup\u2122 \u06f2\u06f0\u06f2\u06f6\u066b \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of camps until then, so we\u2019ll keep playing as a team. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still a new face and I want to develop with the players that we have and keep improving, getting to the point to qualify like we did last year and improve on the past World Cup. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Cup was a bit of a disappointment but it\u2019s definitely a learning point, so we need to take what we learned from that and apply it in the qualifiers for the Asian Cup, and then our goal is to not just make it to the 2027 World Cup but to go further than we did last time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before that, however, is that opening game of the NWSL campaign and another fresh challenge for the rapidly rising teen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realise how quickly it was going to come,\u201d says Phair. \u201cI feel like it snuck up on us. I\u2019m really excited because it\u2019s my first time in the stadium and will be my first pro game experience as a player so I\u2019m so, so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Casey Phair has yet to turn 17 but she already knows what it is like to live her life in the glare of an intense media spotlight. In July last year, aged 16 years and 26 days, the United States-raised striker broke Nigerian Ifeanyi Chiejine\u2019s record to become the youngest player to feature at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":957393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20967],"tags":[3733,28042],"class_list":["post-957392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afc-news","tag-afc","tag-afc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=957392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/957393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=957392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=957392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=957392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}