Davidson backs Albert to ‘evolve’ but admits USWNT has struggled with situation

U.S. women’s national team defender Tierna Davidson admitted that the controversy surrounding Korbin Albert has been difficult for her and the team, but backed her teammate to learn and grow from the experience.

Albert was forced to apologize in March after fans discovered she had shared anti-LGBTQ+ content on her TikTok account.

Though Albert has been called out by USWNT players past and present , she has continued to play a major role on the team and has been named to the 18-player roster for the Olympics.

Also on that roster is Davidson, who is expected to start at center back when the USWNT kicks off the tournament on Thursday against Zambia.

Davidson, who is gay, spoke out on how she has been affected by the controversy surrounding Albert.

“It’s a difficult situation that has obviously affected me personally, given what she was speaking on,” the NJ/NY Gotham FC defender said in an appearance on the “Good Game with Sarah Spain” podcast.

“I think that it is something that you have to learn as a young player, especially with the platform that you’re given, is your beliefs or how you choose to express certain things is very public. And people do look and listen.”

Echoing USWNT head coach Emma Hayes, Davidson said that Albert is doing work behind the scenes to learn about the affect of her actions. Though Davidson admitted the situation has impacted the USWNT negatively, she insisted that Albert can “change and evolve” through the process of learning.

“I think that she has gone through a lot of learning since then,” Davidson said. “And she has to continue to do that, as we all do. As humans, we have to learn from what we do in our lives, and how people react to it and understand the hurt that we can cause.

“I think that it’s difficult because as a team, we have always wanted to be very welcoming to all of our fans, to all players that walk through the locker room. And so, to have that in our space is very difficult. But I have always believed in the ability for people to learn, and for people to change and to evolve. And that sometimes requires a very difficult experience, which I think this is that moment for her.”

Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Albert has continued to be the subject of boos at home matches, and Davidson has expressed her hope that fans always feel welcome when supporting the USWNT.

“It’s been hard to hear how fans have been taking it because I feel like I want to be able to represent the queer community really well on this team,” she said. “And so I want to have fans feel really welcome and feel like they can see themselves on this field, in this team. And so I don’t want there to be any sort of feeling that they are not welcome here.”

Davidson admitted it hasn’t been easy to share a locker room with Albert, but expressed her willingness to help the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder through the situation.

“She’s one of my teammates, and I respect that and I respect her as a player,” Davidson said. “But it is something that you have to go through [in] life. You encounter and work with people that you don’t always agree with, but you want to try and help people to change, you want to try and help them love and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

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