'The most peaceful I’ve felt': Yazmeen Ryan muses on journey to USWNT debut

Yazmeen Ryan was waiting on the touchline at Q2 Stadium. Preparing to see the fourth official raise her number, 24.

After softly pacing on the spot, staring out at the crowd, and taking the moment in; the 25-year-old calmly took the final few steps of a long footballing journey.

Crossing over the white line, she entered the world of being an international soccer player for the U.S. women's national team. A first-ever cap.

"It was probably the most peaceful I've felt entering into a game," Ryan told reporters in the tunnel in Austin, Texas, after the USA defeated Iceland 3-1.

"I tried not to think too hard about it, just remembering what I've been able to retain in the two days that I've been able to train with the team and really play my role.

"I knew I also had to come up, come out aggressive, and be an energy piece for the rest of the team to go ahead and get a couple more goals. I was really like: Okay, let's do this."

Ryan's cool demeanor belied the tension of the scenario at which she entered the match against Iceland. After a promising start, where Alyssa Thompson had dazzled to nod the USA ahead, Iceland drew level through a screamer of their own.

When the Gotham FC forward replaced Mal Swanson on the USA's right wing, everything was to play for. An injection of energy was needed, after a rusty-appearing USWNT had stuttered with the score 1-1.

Ryan was able to provided exactly that. Her passing tempo was electric, and her intelligent running on the right wing helped open up a passing lane for Casey Krueger to find Jaedyn Shaw for the USA's second goal.

Her most eye-catching moment was when she wowed the Austin crowd with an exquisite diagonal cross field pass on her right foot, that soared over the Iceland defense and into the pathway of Thompson on the left wing.

On Thursday night, Ryan partly credited her serenity to the fact the match was taking place in Texas. The state where she had played four years of college soccer at TCU, and just 390 miles south of where she was born and raised in Norman, OK.

"Texas has always been good to me," Ryan said with a smile. "Yeah, that's probably why it felt so comfortable. It was really special. My best friend from college, Ariana Owens, and her Mum got to come see me play."

It's always a big night in Texas and the Southwest when the USWNT come through. But records indicate that by featuring against Iceland, Ryan became the first-ever player born in Oklahoma to feature for the USA.

Norman and Oklahoma aren't renowned for their soccer. TCU head coach Eric Bell once told me he "accidentally" scouted Ryan while he was at a soccer tournament in North Texas intending to scout a different player.

Bell passed by the pitch and saw Ryan take a touch and play a pass, and then felt compelled to watch for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into a whole match, and then an offer for a scholarship.

"Okay, this kid is doing well. Let me watch some more," Bell told Squad Depth excitedly in 2022. "I just stayed. I didn't even go to the field I was supposed to go to, she was that good. That impactful and that special. So after the game was over, I immediately went up to the coach and was like, Who is that kid?"

Ryan said she always set a goal of playing for the USWNT, but that dream didn't always seem close. The debut gave her a moment to reflect on that journey.

"I think it's hard. It's tough because it's been a long journey, and being 25, being four years into the NWSL, there were moments of doubt: When am I ever going to make it past this point?

"I just continued to do what I do, and that's like the best advice I think I've been given so far is to just continue to do what I do best. If it happens, it happens. It's meant to be. And so I think definitely this season, with scoring more goals and getting more assists and being more effective in the role that I'm playing with Gotham, I it did feel like it was, it was closer and more more possible."

In 2024, Ryan has a career-best four goals and four assists in the NWSL. Last season she won the NWSL Championship, and this year four USWNT stars, Crystal Dunn, Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson and Emily Sonnett, joined the team. She believes playing alongside that group has better prepared her for the elite environment.

The first cap is both the end of one journey, and the beginning of another. As Ryan finishes our chat she clutches the match ball, signed by all her teammates, under her left arm. She drinks the moment in again.

"It's really special, and just honestly, I'm so proud of myself and it feels so surreal that I finally got to be in this moment and really and just do it. And so I'm really proud."