Becky Sauerbrunn figures she became a soccer player, rather than just someone who plays soccer, when she was 14 years old, when she went to her first Olympic development camp and it all became serious. So when she retired from the game in December, at the age of 39, she had spent almost two-thirds of her life in pursuit of the game. It dictated her daily routines, when she woke, what she ate, and larger ones, like when she could go on vacation or what family events she could take part in.
Now, the Ladue High graduate who went on to become one of the best defenders in the history of the U.S. women’s national team has all the time she needs.
“It’s different,” she said. “It is a change of pace. But I am really enjoying it. I have been staying busy enough while still getting some really good quality downtime. It’s nice to be out of the grind a little bit.
People are also reading…
“Not having to do a vacation crammed in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Getting to go to weddings and getting to go home and having a girls weekend. These things I didn’t get to have for the last two decades. I’m looking forward to getting to experience that.”
Sauerbrunn waited until her NWSL season was over to announce her retirement, which kept the tributes to a minimum, but she will get a formal sendoff from the game on Tuesday when she’s honored before the U.S. team’s match with Jamaica at Energizer Park. She was going to be there anyway in her new role as a commentator for broadcasts on TNT, but this will be a chance for everyone to say their goodbyes and pay their respects to her. (And, for the first 2,000 fans at the game, to get a Becky Sauerbrunn bobblehead.)
Sauerbrunn packed a lot into her career. She appeared in 219 games with the national team, the 10-most in the program’s history, played in three World Cups (and was on track for a fourth before a foot injury knocked her out of the 2023 tournament) and three Olympics. She won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and won championships at the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. And she left a mark on the sport that resonates with her former teammates.
“I think now getting to go back to her hometown and honor her is so special,” said U.S. defender Naomi Girma, now the team’s defensive anchor and who, only after making sure it was OK with Sauerbrunn, began to wear the No. 4 that Sauerbrunn wore for years. “I’m just honestly excited to see her but also for her to have her moment and get her flowers, which I feel like she doesn’t allow to happen often, so I’m happy that she’s allowing us to honor her. … (Wearing No. 4) always makes me think of Becky, and she did that number right for many, many years. So I was happy to wear it after her.”
“There are aspects that I absolutely miss,” Sauerbrunn said by phone from her home in Portland, Oregon. “I miss the training and just being around the players and the feeling on the field when an exercise is going really well or a passing pattern is really cooking and everyone’s kind of clicking. I miss that. I miss the feeling at the end of the game when you know you’ve put in a really good shift, and if your team wins, it’s even better, but just kind of that sense of accomplishment that you get from sport. I’m trying to find that in other areas of my life.”
The foot injury that kept her out of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where she again would have captained the team, also cost her most of that season in NWSL play, but in 2024, she was back with her club, the Portland Thorns, and she played in 25 of 26 games. And as the season went on, she started to ponder how much longer she should play.
“It wasn’t super clear,” she said. “I think had 2023 gone better for me, just on and off the field. I think maybe I could have said goodbye in 2023, but I didn’t want to say goodbye in the way that it would have been. I wanted one more year to enjoy playing and enjoy my life on and off the field, and so I’m glad I gave myself that extra year. Could I have squeezed out another season or two? Sure, but I wanted to leave something in the tank. I didn’t want to be holding on for dear life onto my career. I wanted to still be at a level that I was proud of. And I got to do that in 2024, and so it did seem like the right time, but it wasn’t crystal clear.”
A producer had already been asking Sauerbrunn about doing television, but Sauerbrunn had tabled those conversations. But as soon as she retired, the invitation was extended. Sauerbrunn had already gone through a program organized by the U.S. women’s national team’s players association that had put players through some training at USC’s school of communications, so Sauerbrunn knew what she was getting into. She also had begun doing a podcast, “The Women’s Game,” along with another women’s team retiree, Sam Mewis, and the still active Lynn Biyendolo. (It was on the podcast that she recently announced she is pregnant.)
Staying around soccer is good for Sauerbrunn because, as she admits, after about 25 years of playing the game, it’s what she knows best.
“I feel very underqualified to do most things in the workforce, considering all I’ve ever done is play soccer,” she said.
But she did that so well.
