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Lynx, U.S. women’s soccer team hang out in Minneapolis

U.S. soccer royalty attended the Minnesota Lynx game over the weekend. Prior to the national team’s friendly in Minneapolis on Tuesday, the Lynx kicked around with the soccer stars. Can USA Basketball drum up similar excitement as they prepare for their pre-Olympics tour?

By Christine M. Hopkins
Indiana Fever v Minnesota Lynx
U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team players Jessica McDonald, Kristen Hamilton, Sam Mewis and Megan Rapinoe attended Sunday’s Fever-Lynx game.
Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images

The U.S. women’s soccer team has a friendly against Portugal tonight in Minneapolis. Naturally, they arrived to the Twin Cities a few days early to prepare and, thus, began a truly star-studded weekend in the world of sports.

Because the four-time World Cup champion USWNT couldn’t not hang out with the four-time WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx, right?

It all started at Lynx practice on Saturday, where Alyssa Naeher, Adrianna Franch, Sam Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper and Crystal Dunn tested their skills against some of the WNBA’s best:

Mewis, in particular, was very game, even rising for a jump against the one and only Sylvia Fowles ... with predictable results:

On Sunday night, Mewis was joined courtside by teammates Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald and Victory Tour call-up Kristen Hamilton to watch the Lynx take on the Indiana Fever:

The Lynx pulled off a tough win in front of their new fans. But Rapinoe, the girlfriend of Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird, still made it clear which team had her loyalty:

The fun didn’t end there!

On Monday, the Lynx visited the USWNT at their practice. From the team’s Twitter feeds, the basketball players may have fared a little better on the soccer field than the soccer players did on the basketball court.

Here’s Napheesa Collier slotting one past Franch:

And Danielle Robinson stepping in goal and making a save:

At the end of the day, this whole experience was about two ultra-talented, ultra-decorated teams sharing their sports with each other on one special weekend.

As announced in July, the USA Basketball Women’s National Team’s preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be highlighted by an expanded training and tour schedule. Lynx center Fowles is one of the eight core players who will participate in every training segment as the national team drums up enthusiasm to compete for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal.

With a partnership like this weekend’s, how could that soccer World Cup excitement not smoothly extend to the basketball court?

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