Kate Sobrero does not count among the team’s household names, but she may be the United States’ most valuable defender.
Coach April Heinrichs resorts to an up-to-date analogy to describe the U.S. central defenders Kate Sobrero and Joy Fawcett ù a tandem she feels has been underrated.
“They’re ‘that player on the American team that’s so good, what’s her name again?'” Heinrichs says. “Instead, [the press] writes so much about the people [on the U.S. team] we see in magazines and on television.
“They are the players who would never get voted off the [“Survivor”] island. There’s no way Kate and Joy would ever be voted off the island.”
But Sobrero made her national team debut 11 years after Fawcett, who first appeared in 1987 and has picked up two World Cup titles and an Olympic gold.
Sobrero, who turned 24 on the eve of the Games, was the youngest U.S. starter during the 1999 World Cup, and arrived in Australia as a crucial ingredient to the campaign for gold.
Indeed, Sobrero is the kind of emerging talent the team needs to continue its reign.
World Cup captain Carla Overbeck, 32, has been plagued by injuries, which prompted Fawcett’s move from right back to the central defense, where Sobrero had played alongside Overbeck in 1999.
Providing crucial backline speed
Sobrero’s absence on the U.S. team’s July trip to Norway underscored her importance. She had broken her nose before the U.S. team left for Europe and then suffered a concussion in a game against Germany before the U.S. trekked to Norway. Heinrichs’ team tied Norway, 1-1, and then lost to Norway, 2-1.
Sobrero came back for the next set of games, on the “Road to Glory” Olympic sendoff tour, and wore a mask to protect her nose. She couldn’t see very well, especially when the ball was at her feet, but she got through the first three games and played the 4-0 win over Brazil mask-free.
“Kate is so disciplined,” teammate Mia Hamm says. “Her speed is irreplaceable. But she’s so disciplined. Her and Joy and Carla in the central defense just keep the line really clean and keep everyone organized. With her out there, we’re a much more disciplined defense.”
Heinrichs is loathe to single out which of her defenders is her most valuable. But she doesn’t mind calling the combination of Christie Pearce, Sobrero, Fawcett and Brandi Chastain ù a foursome that has played together for most of the year ù the best defense in the world.
“Kate is the grittiest, hard-nosed, does the dirty work, and has the uncanny ability to recover for mistakes that are made,” Heinrichs says. “She has world-class recovery, world-class speed.”
For her part, Sobrero is more inclined to self-deprecation.
“She has the wholesome discontent of constant eagerness and pursuit of excellence,” Heinrichs says. “Kate is not happy with her game. Of all the younger players ù I guess she would be considered one of the younger players ù she will be the future in holding the torch for wholesome discontent.”
When asked if she was completely healthy again after her concussions, she said, “I think I am. I’m probably still a little loopy, but then I’ve always been.”
Earlier in the year, Heinrichs suggested that Sobrero stop poking fun at herself.
“You have to make sure your criticism of your athletic ability is not becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Heinrichs says. “She’s not joking as much about her propensity to trip up, and she’s not tripping up as much.”
Sobrero says, “At that point I would do anything. She just cut five people, told us we didn’t have secure spots on the team. I listened to her and never took back the habit.
“I think it’s hysterical. I definitely stumble every now and again. I do have a tendency to stumble. It just happens.”
Anonymity may be short-lived
Despite her stellar World Cup ’99 performance, Sobrero hasn’t captured national stardom like veterans like Hamm, Chastain, Michelle Akers and Julie Foudy have done. And she doesn’t mind.
Last year, the day before the Women’s World Cup final, Sobrero stepped outside a Gap store and walked down a Pasadena street. With the exception of a couple of reporters, no one recognized her.
That still happens, when she’s not wearing her uniform. She hasn’t been bombarded with Madison Avenue offers, but has an adidas shoe deal and is working on a Web site agreement.
“I never get recognized,” she said. “I get recognized every now and again, but by soccer people. Not like Mia or Brandi. I personally love that fact. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
She may not have a choice if all goes well at the Olympics, a stage she’s long been dreaming about.
“I always wanted to be in the Olympics my entire life,” Sobrero said. “This is the greatest sporting event in the world.”
by Soccer America associate editor Dean Caparaz