All I can say is, hey, if you have fun doing what you do, if you have fun playing soccer, the creativity is just going to come as time goes on.
I think everything happens for a reason and all the things that happened to me - good, bad - I'm glad they did. It's made me ready for life, for adulthood.
A lot of people have been hyped up to be great but just disappeared. I promised myself I wouldn't be one of them.
You can't do anything to help your team win when you don't play.
My mom was always the supplier of soccer balls, and so people were always knocking on my door, and trying to get me out so we could play.
It's frustrating at times when you think you've earned a chance to play on the field and you're over there sitting on the bench. That's not the kind of player I am. I'm the kind of player who wants to be out there on the field and needs to contribute every minute of every game.
It doesn't matter what size you are. It matters how big your heart is and how smart you are.
It's not easy when you come in as the highest-paid player and you're 14.
Obviously, everybody has their own expectations of you, but you have to have your own expectations for yourself. For me, I'm right on track.
It helps to have someone in the same boat as you... There's a lot of pressure, so it helps to have someone who's also young and famous and has a lot of pressure to succeed.
I'm very young. This gives me a perfect opportunity to play for a good team and be close to home, to grow as a player. (on signing for D.C. United)
I haven't done anything yet, but I want to be the best in the world.
I do stuff that I don't even know I can do sometimes.
My only real job is to play well and do my job on the field. If I do that, all the other stuff will take care of itself.
I feel the pressure but I embrace it. Whatever I have to do to make the sport catch on to other people, I'll do it.
When I'm out on the field, I'm not scared of anyone.
If they asked me, I would have to say no. I made up my mind to play for the United States some day and I'm sticking to it. (on playing for Ghana)
Once your name gets out, people just want to crack you.
I'm not worried. My time will come.
Sometimes I feel like my childhood has been taken away from me just a tiny bit. But if you want to achieve your goals, you have to sacrifice some things.
I need to have the ball at my feet. That's when I know anything is possible.
This is unbelievable to me. I always wanted to be famous, be the best, but I didn't think it would be like this.
It's awesome where I am right now. It's a lot of people's dream. I'm going to take full advantage of it.
When you play soccer, most of the time you got to get the ball moving, but once you get into that attacking third you gotta be creative, you gotta let your talent take over.
You can teach all the other stuff, you know. You can teach shooting the ball, you can teach having a good touch... passing and whatnot, but when you get out there on the field, it's just a mindset you need to go into the game with.
