Dinnia Díaz was playing a game within the game, a mind trick familiar to anyone who has worked a shift at a job that isn’t all that fun. When it was slow, she’d steal a glance at the clock, then try, try, try to let more time pass before she looked again.
A longtime goalkeeper for the Costa Rica national team, Díaz rarely feared opposing attackers or tried to count the minutes until the final whistle blew. It was different when she was facing Alex Morgan.
“Sometimes you’re thinking, ‘How much time is left? Can Alex still score on me?'” Díaz said.
– Meet the USWNT: What you need to know about all 23 players
– Group by group predictions, picks
– Team by team previews: What you need to know
Once, in a 2016 friendly match, Díaz did manage to keep Morgan scoreless, though she did concede a goal assisted by Morgan. Another time, in Olympic qualification in 2016, Morgan scored nearly from kickoff and found a second goal in the 62nd minute.
“It was really meaningful because you want that such an extraordinary player with such a great career…
