Ali Krieger is her older brother's "Little Miracle"

In the darkest time of her brother Kyle’s life when drug and alcohol addictions engulfed h in his early 20s, Ali Krieger did the only thing she knew to do: She promised herself she would never turn her back on him.

How could she do anything else? There was too much love in her heart to let him slip away no matter how many challenges she faced in trying to reconnect with him. 

At the time, they were living in different parts of the country, she at Penn State, he down in Florida.  But despite the distance, it was clear to Ali that something was amiss.

With too many temptations pulling at him in Miami, Kyle withdrew from Ali, to the point that no matter how hard she tried to reach out to him, he backed off, the addictions dragging him deeper and deeper into a hole.

This wasn’t the Kyle she knew. The Kyle she knew was the one she was so close to that as kids growing up in Prince William County they slept in the same bedroom even though they had their own rooms and even though they picked on each other constantly as siblings often do as adolescents.

There was just something reassuring to Ali about having her older brother there on the top bunk and her on the lower bunk and having the opportunity to annoy him one last time with a swift kick to the mattress above before falling asleep. It was too perfect to pass up.

So Ali, who is 13 months younger than Kyle, remained hopeful that even if she never talked to her brother specifically about his addictions, she could still focus on remaining faithful that one day he would be free of his destructive habits.

On May 6, 2007 while still in Miami, Kyle decided enough was enough. After a bender the night before, he woke up and realized something had to change in his life and the time was now.

“I was powerless over it,” said Kyle, who is 28 now. “The pain of holding on was greater than the fear of letting go so I surrendered. The alcohol and drugs won and by giving it up, I was given a life beyond my wildest dreams.”

For all the success and attention Ali has received during this World Cup, nothing means more to her than knowing she has Kyle back as a friend, a confidante and most of all as a brother.

And Kyle feels the same way. It’s why he calls her his “Little Miracle” in reference to her steadfast support of him.

“She was my rock,” Kyle said. “She would not let me disappear. She stood by me and believed in me even though I had distanced myself from everyone. She was the one constant who knew I would get through it even if I didn’t believe it myself.”

Ali takes every opportunity she can to remind him of their special bond, even in the games. For the entire tournament, Ali has worn soccer cleats that have the initials KJK stitched on the side of the shoe just above the Nike emblem.

Kyle wasn’t aware that Ali had requested that special touch with her number 11 next to it until she showed him a picture of the cleat before she left last month to begin training overseas in preparation for the World Cup.

“I’m so humbled by her success and talent,” Kyle said. “She continues to amaze me.”

Kyle was able to attend the first three games of the World Cup in Germany, but work commitments forced him to return home to New York City where he is employed as a professional hair stylist at the Aveda Hair Salon.

Unable to see last Sunday’s Brazil quarterfinal in person, he made sure he had the day off so he could watch it on TV at a bar.

Wearing his Krieger jersey with the No. 11 on it, Kyle was in awe as his sister and her teammates played the game of their lives. As things got more and more tense, Kyle cheered louder and louder to the point that patrons next to him thought he was some “crazy women’s soccer fan.”

It wasn’t until his friend informed the crowd that No.11 in the Team USA jersey was in fact Kyle’s sister that they realized why Kyle was acting the way he was acting.

After converting the game-winning penalty kick that clinched the victory, Ali ran to a wall inside the stadium and reached out to her mother and father, who were hanging over the side, waiting for hugs. But amid all the celebrations, Ali made sure she remembered the one family member who couldn’t be present.

“We talked and she told me, ‘You were there with me on the field when I took that penalty kick,’ ” Kyle said. “There’s so much love there.”

When the U.S. team reached the final after winning Wednesday’s semifinal, Kyle had offers from clients who were willing to pay his way back over to Germany so he could attend the championship. His work place was more than willing to reschedule any appointments as well.

Finally on Thursday morning, Scott Krieger, Kyle’s uncle, told him he needed to be there in person to watch his sister and that he would pay for the airfare.

Floored with the generosity, Kyle gratefully accepted the offer.

He was on a tight schedule, finishing up work at 6 p.m. Saturday and then catching a flight out of JFK. He arrived in Frankfurt Sunday at 11 a.m. Germany time.

Kyle is left speechless when thinking about being there in person and how blessed he is to be a part of this.

It wasn’t that long ago Kyle was a shadow of himself, hooked on cocaine and crystal meth and drowning himself in alcohol.

Even now, he carries guilt with him about that time, especially when Ali was in the hospital at Penn State, fighting for her life after suffering a near-fatal pulmonary embolism five years ago and Kyle was incapable to step in and offer support.

“I wasn’t present and I have a lot of shame about that,” Kyle said.

When he does go to those hurtful places, though, Ali is there to pull him out and remind him who he is now. He’s not that individual anymore.

Instead, he’s the guy who sought help by enrolling in a 12-step program that has helped him remain sober for over four years now. 

He’s the guy who can now recall with a hearty laugh when he and Ali were young and Ali tried to get in trouble at the dinner table while they were doing their homework. Ali would tell their mother that Kyle had just punched her when in fact Kyle was minding his own business. 

And he’s the guy, who as a former soccer player himself at Hylton and Christopher Newport,

likes to joke he’s the one who taught Ali everything she knows about the sport and therefore deserves all the credit for her success.

But then he gets serious and knows the time and commitment she’s put in to reach this point.

He could tell early on how much she wanted this, even as young kids when they would attend a national team game together.

“She had this look in her eyes,” Kyle said. “I knew it was her dream.”

With that dream a reality now, Ali loves sharing it with others, starting with her family. And it’s that humble quality that Kyle loves the most about his sister.

No matter what happens good or bad, she keeps her priorities in check, knowing what’s most important.

Make no mistake. Winning a World Cup title would certainly rank up there as a seminal moment in her life, but a title will never top the gift of having her brother by her side.

For in the end, no matter how distant Kyle felt from his sister or how desperate things became during his struggles, he was never alone.  Ali made sure of that. She had a promise to keep and nothing would stand in her way in seeing that promise through.

David Fawcett is the sports editor of the News & Messenger. Reach him at 703-530-3911 or at dfawcett@insidenova.com