Penn State alum Ali Krieger settles in to a new life as a soccer broadcaster with ESPN

It’s been no surprise to people who’ve known Ali Krieger for a while that she’s made an easy move into broadcasting.

After ending her playing days by winning last year’s NWSL championship with Gotham FC, the Penn State product (and current university trustee) started doing studio work with CBS. In March, ESPN hired her full time. On Sunday, she’ll 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 hit your opinion, but I’ve found it to be amazing, because I love just talking soccer anyway,” Krieger told The Inquirer. “I think it’s an easier transition after I retired. … It’s such a different dynamic, not physically participating but just kind of analyzing and talking about it. I’m just getting used to it, and I’m getting better every time.”

Krieger started doing some on-camera work while still an active player with the Orlando Pride in 2021, working with its MLS sibling Orlando City for team-produced content. But she knew well before then she might do it some day, having been on camera so often as an U.S. national team stalwart.

“You get thrown in front of the camera since day one, and you start to learn and do all that media training where you just get kind of used to it,” the now-40-year-old said. “I watch a lot of games too, 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.”

» READ MORE: Former USWNT star, South Jersey native Carli Lloyd announces birth of her daughter

Being in the spotlight has allowed her to take in the scale of her playing career, too: 2015 and 2019 World Cup titles with the U.S., that NWSL title with Gotham, and way back in 2008 becoming the first American to win a European club championship with Germany’s 1. FFC Frankfurt.

“I needed to kind of take some time away from the game a little bit,” Krieger said. “I felt like if I jumped into that right away, then I would have maybe burned out pretty quickly, and I think I just needed some time to do other things and be with my kids and prioritize myself. And kind of just look back and think about all the career moments that I had, and just kind of let that soak in and process what had just happened.”

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

She would like to get into coaching some day, perhaps starting as a defense-focused assistant — naturally, since she played centerback and outside back. For now, she said, broadcasting is “a good transition.”

» READ MORE: Sinead Farrelly shares thanks and remarkable vulnerability as Gotham FC honors her retirement

All four quarterfinals feature major attacking talent. First is Friday night’s opener between the 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 U.S. star Mallory Swanson for the visitors.

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

Then comes Sunday, with No. 2 Washington’s Trinity Rodman first atop the marquee. Three years after she helped the Spirit win the 2021 title, the U.S. superstar and Colombian playmaker Leicy Santos will face a No. 7 Bay team that made the playoffs in its first season. Banda’s Zambia teammate Racheal Kundananji carried the San Jose, Calif., based club into the postseason with two goals in the regular-season finale.

Last up is the most star-studded clash of 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 last postseason before retiring.

» READ MORE: U.S. women’s soccer returns to the sport’s pinnacle, winning gold over Brazil at the Olympics

If you were to bet the chalk on all four games, you’d stand good odds 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 upset.

“Bay FC is actually in pretty good form, and I know D.C., they have excellent players — but they’ve been injury-prone a little bit here, and I don’t know if everyone’s going to be fully fit.” she said. “Portland against Gotham, that is kind of a revenge game from last year’s semifinal [a 1-0 Gotham win at Portland]. And also, you’re fighting for Christine Sinclair. You don’t want her to have this be her last game, you want to take her all the way to the final and see her go out on top, like Gotham did for me last year.”

It has been a big year for women’s sports having spotlight platforms, from the WNBA to the Olympics. American women’s soccer stars have long been familiar with such stages: the historic 1999 World Cup champs, the 2015 squad whose title-game win drew nearly 27 million viewers, the 2019 squad that triumphed after suing U.S. Soccer and clashing with then-and-future President Donald Trump.

Rodman and Smith are heading toward the marquee: both were on last year’s World Cup squad and this year’s Olympic gold medal-winners, and each already has a NWSL title (Rodman in 2021, Smith in 2022). But they haven’t yet reached the heights gained by Krieger, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and the rest of that era.

» READ MORE: Trinity Rodman and other new USWNT stars will be even bigger deals now as Olympic champions

Is that because of soccer’s place in the U.S. landscape relative to basketball, or because of something more? Krieger wondered if it’s in part because the U.S. team’s new era of players hasn’t yet raised its voice off the field the way past eras have. It certainly got her team attention over time, often more than its results on the field.

“We’ve all had to use our platforms and fight a little bit more than maybe these younger generations have — which is supposed to happen, right? But it’s also a choice to do that,” Krieger said. “All those things that we kind of tacked on to our star power, using the platforms that we’ve had over the years, I think has kind of catapulted most of these players, like a Megan Rapinoe, to where she is now.”

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

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

What is certain, though, is their talent. It started to show at the Olympics, and new U.S. manager Emma Hayes has shown in games since then that the talent pool is even deeper. Now Smith and Rodman have a moment to star with their clubs.

“They are already stars in their own right, and known around the world as some of the best players that will ever play for the U.S. women’s national team, and football 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 that we’ve put in and paved the way for them.”

» READ MORE: Diane Richardson and Yolanda Laney give New York’s WNBA title some Philly flavor

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

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

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

Nov. 16: First semifinal, noon (CBS3, Paramount+)

Nov. 17: Second semifinal, 2:30 p.m. (6abc, ESPN+)

Saturday, Nov. 23: at Kansas City, Mo., 8 p.m. (CBS3, Paramount+)