U.S. international striker Bobby Wood typically wins his battles. The 24-year-old uses his explosive frame to fight off defenders and force past them on his way to goal. He rarely gets knocked down.
But at a U.S. training camp in Ohio in November, Wood spent a lot of time on the deck. So much so that his teammates made a running joke of it. "Bobby, how many times you end up on the ground today?" they would ask him.
More surprising than Wood’s plight was the man putting the hits in: Tottenham’s Cameron Carter-Vickers. The defender was attending his first national team camp and relishing his duel with one of the squad’s most aggressive players.