Alyssa Thompson is a kid. She is a high-schooler, an 18-year-old who adores her little sisters and frequently tugs her long sleeves over her palms. She is a daughter who lives with her parents in Southern California, and so, understandably, she has been billed as the future, hyped as American soccer's next transcendent star.

And in her NWSL debut, she proved that all the hype, all the prophecies, all the seemingly hyperbolic statements about her future greatness were, in fact, slightly inaccurate.

Because she is not just the future. She is the now.

Even before the goal that jolted 22,000 people out of their seats and thousands more off their couches, Thompson burst up and down the left wing at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, lighting up Angel City's season opener against Gotham. She sped past defenders, some of them World Cup winners, and carried the ball with her, never breaking stride.

And then, less than 11 minutes into her first official game as a professional, she slithered into a pocket of space just outside the box and picked out the top corner.