Every little girl that participates in soccer at a young age dreams of playing on her national team or professionally. Except Australian native Samantha Kerr.

Growing up in Perth, Australia, Kerr broke gender barriers by playing a sport that was predominately male. She refers to it as footy, but that is just the outback way of saying rugby. Playing a so-called male sport is difficult for any female, but Kerr went unnoticed as a girl by her boy teammates and once they discovered she was not the same as them they cried.

At the highest level of sport, how much does chemistry matter?

Do athletes need to have the full trust and respect of teammates to perform at the best of their abilities? Or can professionals put aside personal matters for the sake of the team?

Can you invite a player onto a team who has actively demonized players and coaches on said team?

These are the questions Jill Ellis must ask in the lead-up to the Women’s World Cup this summer.

We’re now just a few months away from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, and the hype is starting to build apace. Here at The18, we’ve already covered 18 players to watch at this summer’s tournament, but here are five coaches that are worth following come June. Some have served as pioneers of the women’s game, while others are taking their respective countries to new found heights.

The U.S. women’s national team is used to being the best team in the world. No one has won more Women’s World Cups or Olympic gold medals than the U.S. But three months before the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the USWNT players don’t look near good enough to win a record fourth championship.