Modern soccer demands an increasingly diverse toolbox of skills. Players in every position now are expected to be smooth with the ball, to make explosive runs — and, if you’re a member of the United States women’s soccer team, to take dozens of well-framed selfies in a row at great speed.
Stick around after any of the games on the team’s current World Cup victory tour, which continues with two games against Portugal — on Thursday in Philadelphia and on Tuesday in St. Paul — and it will not be hard to spot a quintessentially 21st-century sight.
The postgame stadium railing will be stocked several people deep for that night’s selfie session, wherein fans in the stands pass their phones down to the players on the field, who take on the responsibility of snapping a photograph meant to be cherished.