Mallory Swanson speaks on growth of NWSL, preparing for World Cup
Mallory Swanson expects the 2023 World Cup to be "the biggest women’s World Cup that there ever has been." The beautiful game has continued to grow, as is evidenced by the expansion of the NWSL and record attendance for the league's opening weekend. NWSL teams, including Swanson's Chicago Red Stars, are now featured in the FIFA video game as well.
Swanson has witnessed it all firsthand after entering the league out of high school in 2017.
"It’s just really cool to see the growth of the game. ... I will say when I first entered the league, I didn’t feel like a professional," she told Paste BN Sports in promotion of the I Am Cracker Jill Award. "It was obviously the highest level of play, but I think there’s all the other things that kind of play into it that I didn’t necessarily feel."
She is a spokesperson for Cracker Jill's program where young women aged 15-24 can submit stories about their sports journeys for a chance to win $5,000.
Swanson spent three seasons with the Washington Spirit before the COVID-19 pandemic, when she missed the shortened 2020 season and was left off the roster for the Tokyo Olympics due to injury.
GROWING LEAGUE: NWSL announces team representing California's Bay Area to start play in 2024
The 24-year-old, who used to go by the last name Pugh before marrying Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, credits her older sister, Brianna, and her teammates for getting her through hard times.
"I’m so thankful that I play a team sport," she said, "because I think if soccer somehow was an individual sport, I don’t think I would be playing."
This spring, she scored four goals in three games for the United States in the She Believes Cup and was named the MVP of the tournament. A month later, she scored a goal in the Chicago Red Stars' season opener. Last season, she was fifth in the NWSL with 11 goals and was tied at the top of the standings with six assists.
"I’ve been just trying to take everything day by day and just trying to simplify everything in my life to be able to be in the right mindset going into games and going into training," she said. "... That directly kind of correlates to on the field and (I’m) able to just perform at the best that I can."
Swanson won the 2019 World Cup with Team USA and had a goal in the team's 13-0 domination of Thailand in the group stage. That team was led by legends Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. In 2023, rising stars Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith will also be looking to join the Stars and Stripes at the World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand.
Swanson, who has scored 32 goals in 87 caps, is confident on what she brings to the table and looking forward to the opportunity to defend the World Cup crown.
"I definitely think that going in, hopefully if I’m selected for the roster, just going in and continuing just to be me, continuing to be Mal," she said of her mindset. "I’ve learned that that’s the way that I should think. Just because it’s a World Cup game, yeah it is a World Cup game, but it’s just another game. So preparing for that, like I said at the beginning, just taking everything day by day and trying to do all the little things right."