Jucinara's POV
"Here you go Juice." My cousin says as she hands me and my wife tonight's line-up then Christen and I look at the line-up.
1-Emma Harris(C)
22-Sofia Huerta
4-Jucinara
12-Tierna Davidson
3-Emily Fox
21-Jaelin Howell
19-Crystal Dunn
10-Ashley Sanchez
23-Christen Press
13-Alex Morgan
14-Talia Martin
We're playing Ireland tonight.
Once at Solo Stadium, the bus parks then everyone gets off and heads to the locker room.
When we get to the locker room everyone puts their stuff down in their respective lockers.
Once my stuff is in my locker, my teammates and I head outside for the pitch inspection.
"Do you know where they are?" I ask as Christen and I look for our kids.
"Up there." Christen says then I look where she's pointing.
Eventually I find João and Zoi sitting with Christen and I's parents in a box then my wife and I wave at them and blow them kisses.
The twins giggle then they blow kisses back.
Christen and I catch the kisses and put them to our lips then we continue the pitch inspection.
After we've inspected the pitch, my teammates and I head back to the locker room.
When I get to my locker I take my AirPods out, I take out my nose ring, and I take off my necklaces and my rings, then I put my jewelry and AirPods in my bag.
Once I'm jewelry free I take off my tracksuit then I put on my warm up top and my game shorts.
I then sit down in my locker and put on my socks, my shin pads and my red boots.
After my boots are on I wait for Christen to do Talia's hair, then, once she's done with Talia's hair, I sit down on the floor in-between Christen's legs to let her do my hair.
"Hi Nara." My favorite Tattoo'd forward says.
"Hi Chrissy." I say then I relax, face forward, and let Christen do her thing.
Christen runs her fingers through my hair for a little bit then she puts my hair into a pony tail just like I like it.
"Thanks." I say then I hug one of Christen's legs.
"No problem." Christen says then she tilts my head back and pecks my lips.
After our kiss, I get up, walk out of the locker room, and head onto the field with the outfield players
When I get on the pitch I run through my warm ups with the starters for a while then we head back to the locker room.
Once in the locker room I change out of the training top and change into my white jersey while Cairo does her last minute talks.
When the last minute talks end, we are told to head to the tunnel so Nalu and I do as told.
Once in the tunnel, I line-up right behind Emma then I wait for us to be called out.
Right before we head onto the pitch, I step out of line, walk to the front then I stand in front of the captain and face her.
"Hey Juice." Emma says with a smile.
"Hi." I say then I hug the keeper.
Emma and I hug for a few seconds then I get back in line behind her.
Minutes later we are told to head out onto the field for the prematch stuff so I follow Emma out onto the field.
Once on the field we stand in line for the Irish anthem then myself, most of the ladies in the starting XI, and most of the ladies on the bench kneel for our anthem.
When our anthem finishes, we stand up then we shake hands with the Irish players.
After we shake hands, we take a starting XI picture, Emma does the coin toss, then I lead Nalu to the bench.
"Stay here." I say
Nalu yips and smiles at me so I scratch her head then jog to my position on the field.
"You ready?" Tierna asks as we get to our positions.
"Yes I am Tierna." I say. "Yes I am."
- - - - -
"I love post game showers." I say as my wife and I dry off after our post game shower.
"Same." Christen says.
"Nice picture Juice." Talia says.
"Thanks T." I say as I get dressed.
"What picture?" Sam says then Talia shows her the picture I posted on instagram before my shower.
We won 3-0 and I scored all three goals so after the game I had the team photographer take a picture of me alone with the scoreboard in the background so that you could see who scored all three goals.
My caption for the photo was I'm Back Like I Ain't Never Left.
"That may be the best picture I've ever seen." Someone says.
"You're article however did not go over well." Emma says as I finish getting dressed.
"Really?" I say then I pick up my phone and go on twitter.
"Yeah." Emma says as I look at my twitter mentions.
"Well excuse me for speaking my mind." I say then I type out a tweet.
I said what I said.
After I type out my tweet, I hit send then put my phone up.
"Soft ass bitches." I mumble as I slip on my shoes.
I did an Op-Ed for a friend of mines online magazine called The Players Voice.
Every article on The Players Voice is written and edited by the player the story, or Op-ed is about.
My Op-Ed was about my first year on the national team and in the Op-ed I said that fans, media, and commentators need to move on from the past and stop comparing us current players to retired players.
People are going off on social media because I called out Julie Foudy by name and said she needs to stop comparing all of us to players who use to play on the national team.
All I said to/about Julie Foudy was,
I'm the one and only Jucinara Thaís Soares Barbosa Press, there has never been someone like me and there will never be someone like me so stop fucking comparing me to people that played in the 90s, the 2000s, and the 2010s.
I've been through more hell than anybody on the national team, except for one or two people, have been through and I made it to where I am today solely by myself
I also said that even though it sounds biased because I'm her wife, Julie needs to give Christen her props.
Since Cairo became manager, Christen is only second to Talia in goals scored, she's first in assists, 3rd in minutes played behind me and Talia, she was second in the APL golden boot race, 1st in assists, 5th in minutes played, and 2nd in woman of the match awards.
I hope Julie doesn't get fired for my comments, but she sucks as a commentator and needs to be checked.
Also in my op-ed I said that commentators need to use other words to describe me besides pace, speed, and or Power.
Nobody talks about my heading ability, nobody talks about my football IQ, nobody talks about my footwork, nobody talks about my tackling, nobody talks about my passing, and nobody talks about my ability to use both of my feet when passing and shooting.
Nobody ever talks about anything I do on the field unless it's my pace, my speed, or my power.
Honestly I find it really racist that all I'm known for is being fast and strong.
Another reason I'm getting some shit is because I said it's time for the SheBelives Cup to get a new name.
I love Becky, but SheBelives isn't appropriate as a name anymore.
It needs a new name because if the national team wants to be all inclusive like it states then we need to have a name that doesn't ostracize non-binary and transgender players, coaches, staff members, and fans who no longer use she as a pronoun.
Most of the shit I'm getting is from journalists who are butt hurt by my words.
"It's not like anything you said is untrue." Emma says.
"Shit like this is the reason I don't talk to the media." I say.
"Forget about it." Christen says
I nod then I let out a deep breath.
"Now." Christen says as she intertwines our hands. "Let's go see our babies."