Julie Johnston and Why U.S. Soccer Needs the NWSL

Julie Johnston has been the breakout star of the U.S. women's national team during the Women's World Cup—an unlikely feat for a defender. The twenty-three year old has come up with plenty of crucial tackles, been highlighted as one of the few bright spots of a team whose shaky team performances through the round of sixteen have been heavily documented, and she's even been praised by noted women's soccer fan Tom Hanks on Twitter.

To have even made the team, Johnston's credentials had to be stacked. And they were: she was a three-time Mac Hermann semifinalist at Santa Clara University, captained the U.S. U-20 national team that won the World Cup in Japan in 2012, and won the Bronze Ball for that tournament.

Yet that was still only enough to earn her a backup role in the months leading up to the tournament. But injuries to Christie Rampone and Whitney Engen gave Johnston a shot to start at centerback next to Becky Sauerbrunn, who also ahead of her on the depth chart. And now Johnston has arguably been the U.S.'s best player.

Most importantly, Johnston is a perfect example of how the youth development system should function: get scouted, earn your stripes in the youth national team system, play NCAA ball, get drafted by the pros in the first round, and prove you can be a starter with the full national team.

And Johnston's performance this month is yet another reason why the National Women's Soccer League is such an important cog in that development machine. Johnston played in all 90 minutes in each of the 21 games she started in 2014 with the Chicago Red Stars. That's almost 2,000 minutes of game time experience leading the back line. That's also 21 games for U.S. coach Jill Ellis to evaluate Johnston's performance and determine if and where she fits into the national team picture.

U.S. Soccer has committed itself to the NWSL by subsidizing player salaries, and running the league front office. The history of women's professional soccer leagues in the Unites States has up until now been troubling. The WUSA and WPS did not make it past year three, and the NWSL is in its third season now. There's a financial tightrope to walk as well: attendance at national team friendlies rakes in far more cash than most NWSL teams could earn in a month.

There has been a lot of focus on the U.S. losing the No. 1 FIFA ranking to Germany, and a fear that they are losing ground to other teams like France, Australia, and Japan, who are creeping in and perhaps surpassing the U.S. in terms of quality of play and technical ability. All four of those countries have domestic leagues.

In an ideal world, the NWSL would give the national team a nine-team player pool from which to choose. Matches would provide the national team with hours of game footage to fully evaluate each player. There'd more to it than just giving established players a place to practice. The league has so much untapped potential. Johnston, the NWSL rookie of the year in 2014 and runner up for defender of the year, is the first rookie to emerge from that structure who can provide a template for U.S. Soccer of how things should be done.

Johnston was the third overall pick of last year's draft. She didn't exactly have a typical rookie season.

"We empowered her from day one to lead our line," according to Chicago's head coach Rory Dames.

Dames quizzed Johnston on all her responsibilities on the U-20 team, both as captain and as a defender. After all, she was a midfielder in college at Santa Clara, and had played as an attacking midfielder for the U-20s during qualifying. She was converted to centerback for the tournament after Smith suggested it to U-20 coach Steve Swanson, who had his hands full with a crowded midfield and a roster to assemble.

Dames was satisfied with Johnston's reply. "I said, 'this is your line. Have fun with it."

Dames and the team focused on what it would take to push Johnston past camp call-ups and into actual senior team appearances. "That's part of the philosophy we have at the Red Stars. Part of the reason for the league is to develop players who can represent the country. That's why U.S. Soccer is invested in the league."

Johnston was first called up to the national team under Tom Sermanni, who was considering her as a defensive midfielder. But by April 2014, Sermanni had been fired as the national team head coach, and Johnston fell off the depth chart almost as soon as Ellis was hired.

There were rumblings last year that Ellis didn't think Johnston had the speed to play at the international level.

"I think the only thing that initially she was missing was experience in big games," Ellis said of Johnston.

The injuries to Rampone and Engen forced Ellis to give Johnston a shot. She now has 16 national team caps, most of them earned since the start of the Algarve Cup in March.

"I think it's always unfortunate when a young player doesn't get an opportunity because their talent warrants it, but due to injuries to others," said Dames. "In that circumstance you take it however you can get it. She made the most of it."

There's another generation of NWSL players waiting to crack the national team roster. Morgan Brian is one example, even if she hasn't seen the same amount of World Cup minutes as Johnston.

And there are still more on the outside looking in, some still in college, and some who gave up big paychecks overseas to play in the United States and remain on Ellis's radar. There will continue to be challenges in turning the NWSL into a league that consistently turns out talented young players capable of playing for the the senior team. But the talent is there. Johnston's story proves it.