USWNT & Angel City star Christen Press undergoes fourth ACL surgery in 13 months

• Press to undergo fourth ACL surgery
• Suffered injury last June in game for Angel City
• Pens open letter on Instagram about journey

WHAT HAPPENED? Press suffered the injury while playing for Angel City in a match against Racing Louisville over a year ago and took to social media on Monday to share the news that she would need a fourth surgery as she continues her road back to action in a very open statement.

WHAT THEY SAID: "I've had three knee surgeries on my road to recovery," Press wrote on Instagram. "Each time, I've waited until I thought I was at the last phase of return to share the news about what I'd gone through. I'd share a video of me running happily, or even shooting very happily. I thought then that it was a lookback moment, reflecting on the bottom as I neared the top of my climb... But each time, I learned later that I was really at the bottom of a bigger, scarier, higher mountain: another surgery.

"Some call these setbacks. But I don't like that language because it implies there is another path that I should have been on. And those are expectations I do not accept. I am here again, with recent news I need a fourth surgery. This time, I want to share how I'm doing from the bottom.

"This month commences the World Cup. The USWNT's first game will be exactly 13 months from my ACL repair to the day. Until the roster was announced, there wasn't a day that passed over the last year that I didn't believe I could be there. Even after three surgeries. Back in February, when my surgeon and physical therapist told me directly, as medical advice, to let go of that dream, I cried. I nodded. And I thought I processed that loss.

"But, I also decided not to speak that truth into existence. I felt that if I shared that with all of you, I'd be manifesting it into reality. So instead, I stayed quietly hopeful. You never know what could happen, I'd say. Crazier things have occurred, I told friends. No, I didn't manifest this fate. And I know I've given every ounce of my being to making it back. I also trust that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.

"For me, the hardest part of recovery has been that I feel misunderstood. In fact, I feel un-understandable. I'm not anxious to get back on the field. My identity isn't lost by not playing. Most days, I don't even miss it. But that doesn't mean I don't want to get back. That I'm not working every second of every day to return to the pitch. That hard [part] is: I don't know what it does mean. My days are mostly good. I'm working toward my goal. And despite the fact that, on paper, this is an athlete's recovery nightmare, I feel in my heart that to climb the mountain - yes, even one more time - is the dream."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Press expressed in May that she had not given up on the dream of making the USWNT roster but the forward still hadn't returned to action by the time head coach Vlatko Andonovski revealed his 23-player squad in June. The 34-year-old will instead be supporting from afar as her team look to win a third World Cup in succession.

IN TWO PHOTOS:

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Getty

WHAT NEXT FOR THE USWNT? While Press focuses on recovering from her latest surgery, the USWNT gets its World Cup campaign underway on July 21, with Vietnam the first opponent in the group stage.