Penn State alumnus Ali Krieger is settling into the role of football broadcaster at ESPN

For people who have known Ali Krieger for a while, it is no surprise that she has easily made the transition to broadcasting.

After ending her playing days by winning the NWSL Championship with Gotham FC last year, the Penn State product (and current university administrator) started doing studio work with CBS. In March, ESPN hired her full time. On Sunday, she will be a studio analyst for ABC’s NWSL playoff quarterfinal doubleheader, with the Washington Spirit hosting Bay FC at 12:30 p.m. and Gotham hosting the Portland Thorns at 3 p.m.

“You have about 20 seconds to really make your point and give your opinion, but I thought it was great because I like talking about football anyway,” Krieger told The Inquirer. “I think the transition will be easier after I retire. … It’s such a different dynamic, not physically participating, but just analyzing and talking about it. I’m just getting used to it and it’s getting better every time.”

Krieger began doing some on-camera work while still an active player with the Orlando Pride in 2021, teaming up with his MLS brother Orlando City for team-produced content. But she knew long before then that she could do it someday, having been in front of the camera so often as a stalwart of the US national team.

“You’re thrown in front of the camera from day one and you start learning and doing all this media training that you just kind of get used to,” the now 40-year-old said. “I also watch a lot of matches, so you get tidbits here and there. But I think it was always in the back of my mind that it would be a better fit.”

Being in the spotlight has also allowed her to take in the extent of her playing career: 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles with the USA, that NWSL title with Gotham, and already in 2008 he became the first American to win a European club championship with the German 1. FFC Frankfurt.

“I had to step away from the game a little bit,” Krieger said. “I felt like if I jumped right into that, I might burn out pretty quickly, and I think I just needed some time to do other things, be with my kids and prioritize myself. And just look back and think about all the career moments I’ve had, and just let that sink in and process what just happened.

(That was partly a reference to her divorce last year from former U.S. teammate Ashlyn Harris after four years of marriage. They adopted two children and live with Krieger in northern New Jersey.)

She would like to get into coaching one day, perhaps starting as a defensive-minded assistant – of course, since she played center back and outside back. For now, she said, broadcasting is “a good transition.”

Stars during the play-offs

There was great attacking talent in all four quarter-finals. The first is Friday night’s opener between No. 1 Orlando Pride and No. 8 Chicago Red Stars (8 p.m., Prime Video), with Barbra Banda and Brazilian legend Marta for the hosts and American star Mallory Swanson for the visitors.

Saturday’s matchup between the No. 4 Kansas City Current and No. 5 North Carolina Courage (noon, CBS3) will feature Kansas City’s Temwa Chawinga, who broke the league’s single-season scoring record with NWSL’s first 20-goal campaign, facing young American Ashley Sanchez from North Carolina and Brazil’s Kerolin.

Then comes Sunday, with No. 2 Washington’s Trinity Rodman first on top of the marquee. Three years after helping the Spirit win the 2021 title, American superstar and Colombian playmaker Leicy Santos will face a No. 7 Bay team that made the playoffs in its first season. Banda’s Zambian teammate Racheal Kundananji carried the club from San Jose, California, into the postseason with two goals in the regular season finale.

Finally, there’s the most star-studded clash of them all. No. 3 Gotham vs. No. 6 Portland pits Rose Lavelle, Lynn Williams, Crystal Dunn and Esther González against Sophia Smith, Olivia Moultrie and Canadian legend Christine Sinclair in her final postseason before retirement.

If you were to bet the chalk on all four games, you would have a good chance of winning. Orlando finished 28 points ahead of Chicago in the standings, and Kansas City finished 16 points ahead of North Carolina. But Krieger expects at least one disruption.

“Bay FC is actually in quite good shape, and I know DC has excellent players, but they are a bit injury-prone here and I don’t know if everyone will be fully fit.” she said. “Portland vs. Gotham, which is kind of a revenge match from last year’s semi-final (a 1-0 Gotham win over Portland). And you’re also fighting for Christine Sinclair. You don’t want this to be her last match, you want to take her all the way to the finals and see her come out on top, like Gotham did for me last year.

A new era on and off the field

It’s been a big year for women’s sports with spotlight platforms from the WNBA to the Olympic Games. American women’s soccer stars have long been familiar with such stages: the historic 1999 World Cup champions, the 2015 team whose title match drew nearly 27 million viewers, the 2019 team that triumphed after a lawsuit against US Soccer and clashes with then and future . President Donald Trump.

Rodman and Smith are on their way to the marquee: both were on Last year’s World Cup selection and this year’s Olympic gold medal winnersand each already has an NWSL title (Rodman in 2021, Smith in 2022). But they haven’t yet reached the heights that Krieger, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and the rest of that era did.

Is that because of football’s place in the American landscape relative to basketball, or something more? Krieger wondered if this is partly because the new era of players on the American team hasn’t yet made their voices heard off the field the way previous eras have. It certainly caught her team’s attention over time, often more than the results on the field.

“We’ve all had to use our platforms and fight a little bit more than these younger generations may have done – which should happen, right? But it is also a choice to do that,” Krieger said. “All those things that we’ve added to our star power, using the platforms that we’ve had over the years, I think have catapulted most of these players, like Megan Rapinoe, to where she is today.”

You could argue that the new era of players doesn’t need to be so outspoken because the national team has now achieved equal pay. They’re also young, Rodman at 22 and Smith at 24. While Rapinoe was always outspoken (and still is), Morgan didn’t step away until later in her career. Krieger admitted she was the same.

“I don’t necessarily think a lot of younger players are doing that right now,” Krieger said. “Maybe they will in the future.”

What is certain is their talent. It started to show at the Olympics, and new US manager Emma Hayes has since shown in matches that the The talent pool is even deeper. Now Smith and Rodman have a moment to shine with their clubs.

“They are stars in their own right and are known around the world as some of the best players to ever play for the U.S. Women’s National Team and soccer in general,” Krieger said. “I’m so grateful that they’re getting exactly what they deserve because of a lot of the work that not only they put in every day, but we put in and paved the way for them.”

NWSL playoffs schedule

Quarterfinals

Friday: 1.Orlando Pride vs. 8. Chicago Red Stars, 8 p.m. (Prime Video)

Saturday: 4.Kansas City Current vs. 5. North Carolina Courage, afternoon (CBS3, Paramount+)

Sunday: 2.Washington Spirit vs. 7. Bay FC, 12:30 PM (6abc, ESPN+) and 3. Gotham FC vs. 6. Portland Thorns, 3 p.m. (6abc, ESPN+)

Semi-finals

November 16: First semi-final, afternoon (CBS3, Paramount+)

November 17: Second semi-final, 2:30 PM (6abc, ESPN+)

Final

Saturday November 23: in Kansas City, Mon, 8 p.m. (CBS3, Paramount+)