The U.S. women's national team continues to pile up the accolades.
Fresh off having a parade down New York City's Canyon of Heroes on Friday (July 10), each member of the World Cup-winning soccer team was given its own commemorative cover for the July 20, 2015 issue of Sports Illustrated. That's a total of 25 covers—one cover for each of the championship team's 23 players, one for coach Jill Ellis and the 25th and final as a group shot.
The publication's managing editor Chris Stone says the minds at SI originally thought of the idea on July 7.
"The USWNT has plenty of recognizable, even famous names, but we couldn't think of a group so thoroughly identified with a team as this one," Stone says in a SI story. "We could go two ways: a team shot, which seemed a little conventional here, or something different and fresh, honoring not just one or two players, but all 23 of them with their own cover."
The magazine was aided by New York City's decision to throw a parade for the team, giving SI the opportunity to have the full squad in one place at the same time.
"Now how to pull it off? By the time we settled on the idea, the team was in L.A. for an event that would end mid-afternoon," Stone continued. "The photographer we wanted to shoot it, and who had shot the [World Cup final], Simon Bruty, was headed home to D.C. It wasn't going to happen on Tuesday. Then, New York City delivered, big-time, by planning Friday's parade, which would bring the entire team to a single spot. The USWNT, incredibly cool and helpful from the start, agreed to be shot both before and after the parade. It all added up to a little piece of history, the first shoot of its kind in SI history."
History made and well-deserved. Style points to defender Julie Johnston, who did her best air guitar on the World Cup trophy for her cover. Rock on.
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