'I'm still cool': US World Cup squad bridges generational divide

The 22-year-old forward is among a small group of Generation Z talent on a U.S. squad

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Women's World Cup debutant Sophia Smith has no problem getting hyped up for a game - just do not expect her to recognize the music her Millennial team mates are playing in the locker room.

The 22-year-old forward is among a small group of Generation Z talent on a U.S. squad that spans some two decades, united in the goal of bringing home a third consecutive title when the tournament kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

"They'll talk about the technology they had, like the CD," said Smith, who has never used a CD player and was once subject to good-natured ribbing for failing to identify the music of '90s rapper Tupac. "Some of the songs they play, they're all listening to, I have no idea what they are. They sound like my parents."

Building chemistry on a World Cup squad is no easy feat, as players who once regarded one another as club foes must bond as team mates in a span of a few weeks, forming a cohesive unit.

"We literally had players that played the night before against each other and then they traveled all day to come together and now all of a sudden to have to be in the same team," coach Vlatko Andonovski told reporters on Tuesday. Among the defending champions United States, another potential hurdle exists: An age gap.

Veteran forward Megan Rapinoe turns 38 next month and finds herself on the same squad as 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson. Thompson and 21-year-old forward Trinity Rodman count retired great Carli Lloyd's goal from half-field the 2015 World Cup final as a pivotal memory from their childhood.

Five of their team mates this year were on the team with Lloyd when it happened.

"I'm still cool and hip. You know, I try to tell my teammates that," said 30-year-old veteran defender Crystal Dunn, who plans to take her son, Marcel, on the road when she competes at the tournament. "I have a kid and all of a sudden people are like, 'Oh did you hear about TikTok, Crystal?'"

But the U.S. players insisted at a pre-tournament media event on Tuesday that there was nothing but love between the generations. "I really connect with all my teammates," said Dunn. "Just because we're in different phases in our career doesn't mean that, you know, we can't find common ground."