Crystal Dunn details challenges of switching positions with USWNT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One of the storylines that has followed Crystal Dunn's career with the United States national team over the years is how many different positions she can play. It's a testament to her skill and intelligence, as well as being an impressive feat not many players — in any sport — have on their resume. But it's also something that makes life a little complicated for Dunn.
That's because Dunn plays left back for the U.S. women's national team, which is not her natural position. She was a midfielder and forward in high school and in college at North Carolina, where she won a national championship and the Hermann Trophy, which is annually awarded to the best player in the country. She's an attacking midfielder with her club, the Portland Thorns, and last fall scored a brilliant game-winning goal in stoppage time of the NWSL semifinals that sent her team to the final (which they won).
There's no question that Dunn is a star in the midfield — in fact she became the youngest player in league history to win the Golden Boot in 2015. But you won't see her in that kind of attacking role with the USWNT. She plays left back, a move made by former U.S. coach Jill Ellis that she owned during the 2019 World Cup. She has excelled, and current U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski has kept her there.
In a GQ profile published Friday, however, Dunn unleashed some honest comments about what it’s really like to switch positions.
"I step into camp, and I feel like I lose a part of myself," she said in the article. "I no longer get to be Crystal who scores goals, assists, is this attacking player. I step into an environment where I have to be world-class in a position that I don’t think is my best position. But I’ve owned it. I’ve made it my own, and I’ve tried to create it in my most authentic way
"But I don’t love it. I love playing and I love competing, so that brings me up to the level that I need to be at, but it really is hard when I look around and I’m like, ‘Well, no one else has to do this.’ I am the only person who does not stay put in one position and always has to change given what my coach thinks of me."
Saturday, one day before the U.S. faces Japan in its second match of the SheBelieves Cup at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Dunn and Andonovski were both asked about those comments in the magazine.
Andonovski said that every player on the national team has the freedom to play any position they want. If Dunn wanted to try and play midfield or forward on the USWNT, she would get that opportunity.
"Dunny is a world-class player, but she has a choice, too," Andonovski said. "She can compete as a midfielder, but she has to compete with Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan and Catarina Macario when she comes in as well, right? So if she doesn't want to play left back, nobody is forced to play in any position."
"She is probably one of the best left backs in the world," he continued. "As a midfielder, she has a bit of stiff competition. Everybody has a choice and then we make the decision."
Dunn did not intend for her comments to cause a "stir," she said. Her goal in saying the things she said was to encourage players – specifically younger generations – to be authentic and honest with how they feel.
"It's not a secret that I've always struggled with identity on the field," Dunn said. "I'm currently probably one of the very few players, if not the only player, that plays one position here and then goes into their club and plays a different position. And it's not to say that I don't embrace that challenge, but it's not something that is necessarily easy or something that I absolutely love at all times."
Dunn was more go with the flow when she was a younger player and explained she was "happy to always play wherever the coach needs me." That's not to imply Dunn is not easy going anymore. She's just older, more experienced and unafraid to express how she feels about playing multiple positions for multiple teams.
"The reality is, I almost sometimes feel like I'm a part-time outside back and I think that it's important that people know my story," Dunn said. "Hopefully inspiring girls at a young age to embrace the journey but also know it's not easy. It comes with its perks of seeing the field from different angles and understanding the game and having an appreciation of multiple positions on the field.
"Really where I'm at right now is just being able to finally take a deep breath and say, ‘It's OK to say that it's a hard task and it's challenging and it feels lonely at times.' I look around and I'm like, ‘Man, I've gotta get into this mindset when I'm [with the USWNT playing left back] and go back into club and be the best midfielder slash forward at all times.' And I think at the end of the day, it's not to say that I'm never grateful for being here where I am on this team. It's just to say that it's OK to also speak your truth and say it's hard. It's a challenge. And it's lonely at times."
Dunn acknowledged that playing two or three different positions makes her "unique and special in my own way." She also added that, "as players, we all have our own journeys and I think mine is that ability to say I've literally played anywhere on the field and have an appreciation of the game in such a different way.
"I know what it means to be this defender that has to mark the best forwards in the world and I know what it's like to play in the midfield and have to be crafty and creative and savvy on the ball and things like that."
Dunn, who gave birth to her baby boy Marcel last May, returned to train with the national team five months later in September. She scored a magical winning goal for the Thorns during the NWSL playoffs in October, and is planning to play in her second World Cup this summer. Dunn started at left back in the USWNT's 2-0 win over Canada on Thursday and played 45 minutes, as she's not back to 90-minute fitness yet, though that is the plan.
Andonovski said he hasn't directly discussed Dunn's GQ comments with her – nor has he read the story because, as he said, "I seriously don't read media and I don't have social media" – and Saturday's press conference was the first he had heard of her being unhappy in any way.
He did note that he has talked to Dunn about switching positions in the past.
"Obviously now she's back on the national team and she's working her way back up," Andonovski said. "And I actually think her playing in the position that she's playing for us right now is the easiest thing that we can do or the easiest for her to get back out."
That was after reiterating that all of his players have a choice when it comes to where they want to play on the field.
"We see [with] Crystal that even throughout games that she has the liberty to go forward as a left wing and we have seen her in the middle getting the ball and doing her thing with what she's also special at in the midfield," Andonovski said. "But if we feel like at any point in time she's going to be better-suited in those positions and give us the best chance to be successful, then we can see her there."
Laken Litman covers soccer, college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. She previously covered college football, college basketball, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and the Olympics at Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star.
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