It took a total team effort for the U.S. women's national team to win the World Cup earlier this month, but their stars did step up in a major way.
Midfielder Carli Lloyd won the tournament's Golden Ball for being the World Cup's best player and Hope Solo earned the Golden Glove honors for being the top goalkeeper of the tournament.
It took a while, but now an unsung hero from Team USA's victory is being brought to the forefront and thanked for his contribution as well ... and it's none other than Dwayne Johnson.
Earlier this month, a video of the movie star taking a break from his workout to give the women's national team a motivational speech, before its World Cup final match against Japan on July 5, hit the Internet. On Friday (July 24), Solo and Lloyd took to their respective Twitter accounts to thank him.
Been meaning for days to thank @TheRock for the World Cup Final pre-game speech. Thank you! We all loved it! @CarliLloyd especially lol!
— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) July 23, 2015
You rock!! That was so inspirational. Thank you! @TheRock
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 24, 2015
My pleasure champ! Congrats to you & the girls. Extremely proud. Thank y'all for the inspiration. And @CarliLloyd;) — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 24, 2015
With the same kind of charisma that he flashed while ruling the WWE ring as The Rock, Johnson said in his speech:
"This is not a video to inspire you in any way. You guys are already inspired, you're already there, you're already in that head space. You know the opportunity that's in front of you. This video is just to let you know how much you've inspired me."
He added: "Remember that you are the greatest in the world at what you do. And I say that with all respect to the other teams, you are the greatest in the world at what you do. You have earned it. You guys are rock stars, you guys are warriors. At the end of the day, you are 23 of the biggest bad-asses walking God's green earth."
Flat out, this is one of the better pep talks that you'll see in sports. It definitely fired up Lloyd, who recorded a hat trick just 16 minutes into the World Cup final.
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