U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team forward and Seattle Reign rookie Emeri Adames had a plan.
It was audacious, admittedly a bit improbable and certainly more dream than reality, but oh my, if she got the chance to execute it, it would be grand.
On Aug. 25, prior to the match against the North Carolina Courage, the Reign would retire the number 15 jersey of club legend, women’s soccer icon and cultural trend-setter Megan Rapinoe.
It was the last NWSL game for Adames before she would join her U.S. U-20 teammates in Colombia to prepare for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The 18-year-old Adames, who entered the league in March via the NWSL’s U-18 Entry Mechanism, had idolized Rapinoe for years. She decided that if she could score in that match, she would celebrate with a tribute to Rapinoe and replicate the USWNT legend’s famous goal celebration that is familiar to millions of soccer fans.
You know the one…
The “arms outstretched, basking in the glory, women’s soccer has arrived and we are enjoying every freakin’ minute of it, are you not entertained?” now-iconic pose that Rapinoe made world famous during the USA’s run to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup title.
In France that summer, Rapinoe won the Golden Ball as the Best Player and the Golden Shoe as the tournament’s top scorer.
Adames’ admiration for the 50 shades of magenta-haired Rapinoe started about eight years ago during a USWNT stop in Texas when the 10-year-old Adames grabbed a picture with Rapinoe – one widely circulated on social media during and after the game. Adames grew up in Red Oak, south of Dallas.
Now, she would pay tribute to her idol on her very special day.
But first, she had to score.
After a rousing and emotional pre-game ceremony for Rapinoe, the Reign and Courage stayed knotted at 0-0 almost to the 90-minute mark.
In front of almost 17,000 fans, the 18-year-old Adames entered the game in the 88th minute for Canadian star Jordyn Huitema. Eight minutes of stoppage time were then added.
That didn’t leave much time for young Emeri to make an impact, but she got to work. Buzzing around the Reign attacking third like she always does, the clock was ticking toward the final whistle when, in the 90+7th minute, fellow substitute Veronica Latsko launched a cross into the penalty box from the left wing. The 5-foot-5 Adames snuck in behind Courage defender Malia Berkely, leapt into the air and got enough on her header to send it careening off the left post, off scrambling Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy and into the net.
Cue pandemonium at Lumen Field.
Adames broke free from the inevitable team hug, sprinted to the sideline, and yes, hit “The Pose.”
After any other goal, it might have been awkward and probably ill-advised for an 18-year-old with 16 professional league games under her belt to break out a Megan Rapinoe impression.
But on this night, at this moment, it was perfect.
“At first I didn’t think I scored but when I saw the ball in the net, an extreme rush of emotion just swept through my body,” said Adames. “The ‘feels’ were overflowing, as you can see in the photos! Sofia Huerta and Olivia Athens ran to me, and then I looked over to the sideline -- that’s the side of the field where Pinoe sits in the suite -- and I just had to do it.”
The only recent meeting between Rapinoe and Adames was a brief one. It consisted of an introduction, a few words and a “nice to meet ya.” (She of course got another pic, eight years later).
Soon after the game, Adames got a text from a number she didn’t recognize. It took a few seconds to realized who it was from.
“I was on the phone with my mom, and I screamed, “OMG, Megan Rapinoe just texted me!,” said Adames.
Rapinoe had gotten her number from Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey, who with that victory recorded her 100th NWSL win, the first coach ever to do so.
The text, along with several emojis, read:
“OMG. It’s Pinoe. WOW! What a f----g goal my dear!!! And, oh, you made me cry. Congrats and Thank you! Incredible.”
Adames replied with a text of her own, saying that she had grown up watching Rapinoe, that she was one of her biggest inspirations and that she was SO happy she could score and make the day even more special for her.
A final text was also classic Rapinoe. It read: “It was perfect. Couldn’t have been better. Truly, that was DOPE.”
“When I was on the sideline and warming up, I was looking into the crowd and I thought, “this would be a waste if nobody scored,” said Adames. “We have this huge crowd and it’s such a special night for the club and for Megan, someone has to score.”
What transpired will go down as one of the best moments of the 2024 NWSL season, but epic moments are made by long-haul work behind the scenes. For Adames, it started with a decision to forego college soccer and turn pro.
“Was it a hard decision? Yes,” said the Reign’s third-youngest player (the club recently signed U.S. Under-17 international Ainsley McCammon and Adames’ fellow U-20 WWC teammate Jordyn Bugg, who is four months younger). “But once I met the team and was with the them for pre-season, it just felt right. After getting to know Seattle, seeing where I would live, it was a pretty clear decision for me.
“Soccer-wise, Laura is such a great coach. We had a good conversation, and she told me exactly how she saw me growing in the future. She wanted to be there for me in all areas of my development while helping me learn the pro game and reach my maximum potential. I’m training every day with full-grown women, seasoned pros, and it’s been awesome.”
Adames played in 16 of 17 games for the Reign before leaving for Colombia, three as a starter and the rest off the bench. She scored her first career goal on May 24 vs. the Washington Spirit, making her the club’s youngest-ever goal scorer and she’s very much enjoying her time in the Emerald City.
“It’s been great,” she said. “I love Seattle. I love the weather. I’m actually a big fan of the rain. It reminds me of the Twilight movies. I love our fans. We get to meet them a lot and our fan base is amazing.”
Adames has also experienced the rough side of professional soccer with the Reign languishing at the bottom of the standings for most of the season, but even that she sees as a valuable lesson.
“I feel like I’m in a good environment to grow, not only a player, but also a person,” said Adames. “We’ve struggled this year, but no one told me pro soccer was going to be easy, so we just have to persevere and keep working. We have a great group of players and staff so were going to do just that.”
Being in a professional environment surely helped Adames prepare for, and then make it to, the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
“There’s a lot of pressure being a pro,” she said. “Every game is on TV, there’s lots of fans, you want to win every game and you don’t want to ever let your teammates or the fans down. I feel like I can take those expectations and pressure and transfer that to this stage, so when I step on the field for my country, I’m more prepared for this environment.”
The 2023 Pan American games in Chile were also a confidence-builder for Adames. The USA sent an Under-19 squad to face full Women’s National Teams, and Adames had three goals and three assists in the tournament en route to the USA winning a bronze medal. Adames’ final goal was in the 2-1 semifinal loss against the full Chile National Team and she scored against goalkeeper Christiane Endler, long hailed as one of the world’s best. A few days later, Endler announced her international retirement. While giving up a goal to a precocious 17-year-old had nothing to do with Endler hanging up her gloves, it did make for a cool historical footnote to have scored the final international goal on a women’s soccer legend.
As one of 19 teenagers currently rostered in NWSL -- not including 14-year-old Mak Whitham, whose contract starts in January for NJ/NY Gotham -- Adames is not attending her freshman year of college, but there’s still a whole lot of learning going on. Where is she on that curve? She’s not sure, but she’s learned that professional soccer is a constantly evolving endeavor.
“I think what helps is that you learn so much about so many different situations on the field,” said Adames, who wears number for 47 for the Reign as an ode to another player she admires, Manchester City’s Phil Foden. “Are we a goal down? Are we a goal up? Are we facing a low block? In what formation are we defending? What problems will the other team present? How can we attack the weakness of the other teams? You just have to be constantly thinking about the game in an analytical way, and that really helps improve your soccer IQ. I’ve also had to learn how to be the best sub I can be, which is not something I was used to. I’m just learning how to play a bunch of different roles.”
Adames also puts high value on just watching how the older players conduct themselves, on and off the field, with the media and with the fans. Reign legend Jess Fishlock, a player sure to have her jersey number retired one day, is almost a full two decades older than her and still impacting games.
“When you’re young, you feel like you can play two games a day, but what’s really been important is learning about the recovery part of being a pro,” she admitted. “You have to do all the work necessary on your body without fail and really trust your staff and what they are asking you to do, because you know everyone is there to help you. I now really love ice baths.”
This is not the first FIFA World Cup for Adames. In 2022, she made a late run in a quest to earn a place at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India. She was named to the U.S. roster for the final training camp before the roster was chosen which was a trip to Spain to play Spain and Germany. She scored the lone goal in a 1-1 tie with the soon-to-be U-17 WWC champs and the game-winner in a 1-0 win over Germany.She made the roster and as one of the youngest players on the team and played in all four games and had one assist. It was a valuable experience.
“It was a very different adventure in India,” she said. “I had never been on a stage that big in front of that many fans. Looking back, I learned that I can’t let the nerves get to me. I need to embrace the moment, be present and trust myself and my teammates.”
Now, she finds herself as one of the leaders of this current crop of U-20s.
“If you had told me last year that I was going to be on the U-20 World Cup Team and that I’d be in this spot, I might not have believed you,” she said. “Being a pro, and playing at the Pan Ams, gave me so much confidence and helped me get to this point. It means a lot to me to rep my country, it always does. I’ve been watching the last few U-20 World Cups and I’m just so excited.”
And now Adames has a brand-new answer for the oft-asked social media question, “Who is the most famous person in your contacts?”