Meet Savannah DeMelo: The USWNT’s uncapped midfielder offers more than just great goals

In  The Journey to the Cup , The Athletic tells the stories of players and teams as they work towards a place in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Follow along as we track their progress as they prepare both mentally and physically for a chance to shine on the game’s biggest stage.

Savannah DeMelo breezes into Racing Louisville’s offices with a green drink, fresh off of a post-practice shopping trip with her younger sister. She loves a good sale — at one point Racing Louisville had a partnership with Zappos and she was buying shoes on deep discount every week. She firmly believes that if you find something you like on sale, buy two of it, because you know you’re going to use it. She comes off as someone with a good head on her shoulders.  

She also comes off as someone with a heck of a foot on her leg.

It was a goal so nice that Kudzi Musarurwa at All For XI wrote an ode to it . Her teammate, Alex Chidiac, was so wowed by her form she called it “disgusting.” 

“My dad sent me that (article), that was crazy. It was very cool,” DeMelo said. 

“A lot of people like to make the joke ‘cause I use the outside of my foot a lot instead of using my left foot,” she continued. “I think my left foot is not horrible. It’s not just for standing on. But I do think there’s something special about using the outside of your right foot. There was a (Current) defender in front of me. And I know AD (Franch) could not see the ball. And I know, if you swing with your left, it’s obviously easier for her to see that. So the kind of disguise of the outside of the right foot is what that does, shooting — or even with passing, I like to pass with the right outside my right foot a lot, too.”

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