LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For Racing Louisville FC midfielder Savannah DeMelo, making the U.S. World Cup roster is the dream of a lifetime. Still, when the news came, it was a shock.
She knew the date of the announcement. Her parents had flown from California to Louisville to be with her. For a week, her late run to a place on the team had been widely reported.
But here was the FaceTime call, and national team coach Vlatko Andonovski saying the words, telling her she had made it, her parents in tears beside her.
“It’s like time stops for a little bit,” DeMelo said. “And then I remember, oh my God, he’s on the call, and I have to respond.”
DeMelo has been responding for a while. That’s why she is on the U.S. World Cup team that will compete for the biggest prize in the sport in July and August in New Zealand and Australia.
In some ways, this was always going to be the case. She was fast-tracked to the national team, made the U-14 and U-20 national squads, and was a college All-American at USC. But after an Achilles injury took her out of commission in 2019, followed by the COVID-19 disruption a year later, getting back to a world-class level was anything but a foregone conclusion.
Savannah DeMelo (9) celebrates with her US youth national teammates.
In fact, despite her brilliance with Racing Louisville since arriving as the No. 4 NWSL Draft pick last season, she was not holding out much hope for the current World Cup, knowing the strength of the national team in the midfield.
"The U.S. has the best players in the whole world, so even if I'm playing at my top form, I don't expect to be on this national team," she said.
Then a strange thing happened. She started playing as well as any player in the world. She has scored or assisted on a goal in 12-straight games and was the NWSL player of the month in May.
An injury to U.S. veteran defender Becky Sauerbrunn created a spot. And DeMelo's recent form — along with her national team history — did the rest.
"It's an honor in itself," DeMelo said. "And I'm just so grateful. After the injury, it was really hard. And an Achilles is a hard injury to come back from. I was in a pretty good spot, then going from 100% to 0% was pretty gut-wrenching. But it kind of just made me hungrier to come back. I think I'm even better than I was before."
She has always been good. A look at the wall in the Portuguese Community Center not far from her hometown of Bellflower, California, gives you an idea of the hopes she has carried. There are portraits of two soccer players. One of them, you'd expect. Cristiano Ronaldo. The other, in a U-20 national team uniform, is DeMelo.
"Our community is Portuguese people and they're really tight," her father, Robert DeMelo, said. "When it comes to stuff like that, they're really proud. I mean, we go to this massive Portuguese Hall. And there's Ronaldo, a big picture, Ronaldo. Then there's a big picture, Sav with the U.S. national team on it from the U-20s gear. And people are just so proud, you know."
"And they asked for that picture," her mother, Kim DeMelo, said. "They asked for it, and we were so honored that they would put her up there next to Christiano Ronaldo. So we go there and we see it. And it's pretty amazing that we have Sav representing a culture and a community."
Robert DeMelo, left, father of Racing Louisville's Savannah DeMelo, poses with a coach and photos of his daughter and Christiano Ronaldo in the Artesia, Calif., D.E.S. Portuguese Community Center Hall.
She's also representing a family and a club.
Sports parents, take note. Robert DeMelo was a soccer player himself and coaches at the club level in California. But he did not force his daughter into the game. In fact, she was into gymnastics in a big way before deciding at age 7 or 8 that she wanted to play soccer.
"I loved it. From the moment I started kicking the ball around," Savannah DeMelo said. "And then I obviously had my dad coaching me, and he's the best coach I've ever had to this day. And I owe it all to him. ... Being my coach and trying to be my dad at the same time — it's a hard balance to have, but he perfected it in every way you could.
"He's an amazing soccer player. One of the smartest soccer players I know. And he just makes soccer fun. It's never been something I hated. He always made sure soccer was enjoyable. I played other sports, I had a really great, well-balanced life. So, he helped me with that tremendously."
But he also stressed that it wasn't just a go-to-practice-then-go-home kind of thing. It was a life commitment. She had to put in extra work. Her parents helped her develop a vision.
"It was literally my freshman year of high school, maybe August," Savannah DeMelo said. "We were at my dining room table at home and we have a little sheet of paper. I think we still have it. And it's laid out, a four-year plan until I went to college, where I need to be, what I need to do, all this stuff to get to that level. It's a pretty vivid memory of mine."
Her parents know enough about the game that they knew, especially after her injury, that the 2023 World Cup was a long shot. But they always stayed positive with her, and they were grateful that she found a club — and a city — that she loved.
"It means a lot to them, I think," DeMelo said. "They've been with me through it all. I mean, through my injury, taking me to soccer practices at a young age. ... My mom's always been there for me. My sisters are super supportive, both soccer players as well. So I think it's just a huge moment for all of us and celebrating it with them is truly special."
DeMelo said one thing she is excited about is representing a her new city — Louisville — on an international stage. Her father said she has embraced the city in a way they didn't expect.
"Louisville, Kentucky, gave her another step," he said. "Because she felt like she was at home. This is a kid that's talking about investing over there right now. This is a kid that loves that town. It's like home. I kind of get the chills right now talking about that because we have that same community here, the Portuguese community. And the way she talks about that town — and I was fortunate to go there — she was so happy showing me every little corner. Quills, you know, and all the little food places, that I'm like, 'OK, I don't think we're going to get you back home again.' So, it's just a good feeling for us as parents to know that she's in good health."
Savannah DeMelo gets a hug during a Racing Louisville FC post-game autograph session.
"She's taken care of," Kim DeMelo said.
DeMelo has been handling the swirl of World Cup speculation along with trying to focus on Racing Louisville's season. She has one more game – at league-leading North Carolina on Saturday – before leaving for national team training in California.
Many of the national team players are friends. She played with them growing up. She'll step into surroundings she is familiar with.
"But this is a different beast," Robert DeMelo said. "This is the top of the top."
It's also where DeMelo has always expected to be.
"I'm just embracing it," she said. "I'm in no way going over there being like, 'Yeah, I know everything.' I'm going to learn as fast as I can and try to get level with the girls as quickly as possible – but also being confident and knowing, 'Hey, I deserve to be here. I've worked my butt off to be here.'
"I just want to represent this club and the city well, because I've truly fallen in love with it," DeMelo said. "I'm so happy here. I just want to make everybody proud. I don't think it's, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous.' I just want to make the city and team and everybody proud. And I think just being me and going out there and being who I am on and off the field is going to do just that."
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