Women's Soccer Stars Celebrate Legends At The Players Association's Players Ball

What's up guys? Leslie Robbins here. Young Hollywood is surrounded by some incredible women tonight. Incredible athletes. We're talking gold medals, World Cups. You know their names. Alex, Abby. Let's play ball. Alex, we are here celebrating you. You are a forward in every aspect of your life and everyone here is celebrating that.

Yeah, it's great. It's just great to be here and just like celebrate all of these incredible women and for me to get a night out. I have a three-month old son back home, so this is really good. I can't wait to get inside and just like enjoy and spend time with some of the girls that I haven't seen in a while. Like a lot of these players that we literally like saw every single day. Soccer remains the same, but you continue on and obviously you like build your businesses and we get to then come together once a year and enjoy ourselves.

What in the world? I heard you were going to be here. I had to come and interview you. Of course. This is so fun. We're here. Abby, soccer superstar. We're celebrating you and your teammates from that small victory you had 10 years ago. Take me back.

There's nothing like winning a championship. I'm so excited to be here tonight with my teammates. It's always fun to see them. There's no relationship like the national team relationships and how those get built. And then we're also celebrating players who are and have retired in the past year. So it's a really exciting night.

We'll take me back to the year 2015. You guys won the World Cup. When did you know that was going to happen?

When we were 3-0 up in the 16th minute. Yeah, I was like, we're not losing this. Like it's not happening. I think it was probably after like the fourth goal that we scored in record time. And still yet I was like nervous, like please don't come back. Um yeah, I think halfway through the second half, I was I was pretty certain we were going to win. We had a tough match against Colombia, against China, against Germany, like we were tested and in a lot of moments I was like, I don't think we're the better team, but we're going to grind through and we're going to make sure we get the result at the end of the day. But then we came to we came to play in that final game against Japan and it felt good.

I have this kind of ball, which you know very well. I also have a soccer ball stress ball. Which one are you feeling more?

Um, I don't know, I'm scared what you're going to ask me to do.

Well, you're stunning in a mini dress and heels, so of course I'm going to ask you to play soccer. Okay. Let's see some moves. Soccer player in heels. This might be dangerous. That's the best I can do. How well can you play soccer in heels? In my heels. Oh my gosh. Guys, I just went in heels. So because I was coming here to see you and and your badass women here, I brought this, you know this ball well. But also a soccer ball stress ball. A stress ball. Which would you rather now as a retired professional athlete, the the ball that like made you world famous, or the one that gets you through every day?

Yeah, the stress ball. Like 100%. For sure. Like I'll play I'll play soccer with my daughter, but I will actually use this for my my mental well-being. Yeah, the stress ball. I have three children. They talk to me in a language I do not understand. So, this one. We have this. I I do not want that. I did it I did that enough. This is going to save me tonight.

I'm going to have to ask you for a move. I have an open floor here.

I don't do moves. My move was just ball in goal. That's it.

Well make a goal and you'll put ball in goal. That's it. But take me into like being part of a team.

Yeah, I think that being a part of a group of of type A badass women, it takes an extraordinary amount of patience and collaboration. And I think that that is something that differentiates every single one of us.

So as Abby liked to tell me, tonight we're celebrating badass women. Do you agree with that comment?

100%.

Take me into what that means to you.

I think for me specifically and all the people that retired this past year and that we're celebrating like the path that they paved for us specifically with the national team, the equal pay lawsuit, like everything that they fought for to allow us the opportunity to be where we are now and just be able to play with the luxuries that we do and the fans that we do, like just huge homage to them. They created that and so I can't wait to celebrate them tonight.

What does it feel like to be surrounded by such greatness today?

It's amazing. I mean, these were the women that surrounded me as I first came onto this team and I was, you know, just a small child that didn't know what I was doing. Um and to be able to have them as role models and people to help me through this journey. Not only just show me how it works, but also, you know, bring me along as a friend, as a teammate. Um it it's been so amazing. So it's, you know, the least that we could do is give them a special night to celebrate everybody.

You are at the forefront of leading women. And women, young girls still look up to you. What advice would you pass on to them when they want to be in your shoes?

Honestly, it's coming to the table and having the confidence knowing that you belong. It's it's knowing that like you don't have all the answers, but you do belong.

What's like the recipe to make a badass woman?

Create a culture where the expectation is excellence and it's persistent. So the pursuit of excellence is what we did every single day and if you didn't show up with your best, then you were actually hurting the team. And so it's that level of commitment every single day. And I don't have that same level of commitment to my fitness now. That's for sure.

And what's next for Alex?

Um, enjoying time with my family, building my venture funds, just continuing to be an advocate for women's sports.

Alex and I have a lot of similar experiences in terms of the way that we played, the way that we, you know, we scored lots of goals, not only together, but after I retired, she kept on scoring a lot of goals and really carried the game on into the future that we know as women's soccer now. You know, equal pay. She was at the forefront of that fight, winning her own championships after I retired. So I like to think that I um had something to do with it, but I didn't. I had nothing to do with it. Alex is just such a badass and she's so savvy, she's such a businesswoman and I think just has had an incredible career that and I really hope that she can really celebrate and feel all of the love that is coming her way.

Do something, Abby. How about that?

That's what I'm doing. No more soccer for me. I watch it now. Stress ball. That was great.