Up to the Cup

It doesn’t happen overnight. Every win — whether it’s at the World Cup or just an international friendly — is the culmination of months and years of pain and sweat and sacrifice. And as the USWNT prepared for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, The Players’ Tribune got behind the scenes both on the pitch and off — in the gym, in the locker room and more.  Training for the world’s biggest stage is an exhausting task, but that doesn’t mean the USWNT didn’t have a little fun along the way.

Photographs by Brad Smith/ISIPHOTOS.COM