Southern Nevada teenager shares the pitch with soccer's biggest stars at World Cup

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

Olive Busby is having a once-in-a-lifetime experience today: attending the World Cup final not just as a spectator, but as a participant in the on-field pageantry.

Olive, 13, is one of 15 young people who will be flag bearers welcoming the Spain and Argentina national teams onto the pitch at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. She will be an ambassador for the United States as the host country, plus her club soccer team, the Albion Las Vegas GA Aspire U14 girls.

World Cup flag bearers hoist a FIFA flag or the flag of one of the competing teams’ countries at midfield as players file in. They also get to stay for the match and see, in person, the best that soccer has to offer surrounded by the electric energy of thousands of other fans of the world’s most popular sport.

She’ll also be there for the Super Bowl-style entertainment that will include Shakira, Madonna and BTS.

It’s the kind of experience Olive said she expects to still be talking about when she’s old and gray.

“It doesn’t feel real yet,” she said Thursday before soccer practice at a Summerlin field. “It is so exciting. It’s the biggest thing for soccer.”

Olive’s coach, Anand Nair, submitted her for team sponsor Adidas’ consideration after the international sportswear giant asked coaches around the nationwide Albion system to enter the players they thought would best represent their program. (Adidas is also a major sponsor of the World Cup and is outfitting Spain and Argentina.)

“She exemplifies all of what we want from a coaching standpoint,” Nair said of Olive.

It’s not just that Olive, a center back and team co-captain for Albion Las Vegas, is an excellent athlete and whip-smart player, Nair said.

It’s that she anchors her team, humbly leading from the rear so she can see the whole game in front of her. She gives her all for the full 80 minutes of play time, and she motivates the other girls as if she is a coach herself, “even if it’s minute 79, and she’s gassed.”

Olive is a Las Vegas native and has been playing soccer since she was 8 years old. In addition to her club team, she was part of the Mannion Middle School squad that won the Clark County School District’s middle-school championship last year.

She plans to play in high school, and, if she can, college. She gives a big chunk of her life to soccer, where she’s made her best friends.

She doesn’t have a preferred team for today’s matchup. Of course, she likes watching Spain’s teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, one of soccer’s all-time greats.

“It’s crazy that I’ll be able to be in the same area as him,” she said. “It’s insane.”