US Women’s World Cup roster reflects a team in transition

Here’s a sentence you see every four years: The United States is the favorite to win the Women’s World Cup.

Why shouldn’t the public believe the hype this time?

The United States’ resume is top-notch, with the team heading into this summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand as the No. 1 women’s soccer team in the world and the two-time defending champion. And unlike any other women’s World Cup team, it has four small gold stars sewn above the jersey’s crest to show the program’s pedigree of four World Cup titles. When the tournament kicks off next month, the Americans will arrive with a roster littered with nearly 10 players who have previously lifted the trophy.

But knowing what it takes to win and doing it with one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams the United States has ever taken to the World Cup are very different things. It is likely that more than half of the roster will be World Cup rookies. And the team must find a way to play at its best, even without its respected team captain and its most dangerous striker.

Coach Vlatko Andonovski has spent the last few years trying to rebuild his squad as this tournament looms, keeping veterans at bay and introducing new talent in an effort to build a team he believes can win and be successful this summer in the future.

His federation, his players and their fans hope he can pull it all off. Because he and the team are out of time now.

Andonovski, who coached the team to a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will announce the squad roster on Wednesday and is expected to add some surprises. He’s already faced a few: Last week he lost his captain, defender Becky Sauerbrunn, who was ruled out with a persistent foot injury. A long-ago injury also cost him the services of Sam Mewis, a midfield regular for the 2019 World Cup champions, and more recently the presence of two valuable attacking options, Mallory Swanson, who seemed to peak at the perfect time, and Catherine Macario.

Who’s going? Stars like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe should be on the team, with their experience from three previous World Cups and their gravitas as two of the most famous and outspoken female athletes in the world. Another likely choice would be Rose Lavelle, the midfielder who was the breakaway star of the 2019 tournament after making scoring look all too easy, including when she appeared to casually dribble into the center of the field in the final to score the final goal to make of the team.

The new stars are likely to include Sophia Smith, 22, last year’s National Women’s Soccer League Most Valuable Player, and Trinity Rodman, the 2022 NWSL Rookie of the Year and daughter of Dennis Rodman, the former NBA All-Star.

The Americans’ first game is against Vietnam on July 22 in Auckland, New Zealand – 9 p.m. Eastern Time on July 21. Next comes the team’s biggest match since the last World Cup: a rematch with fellow 2019 finalist, the Netherlands, likely leaving the winner with a much easier path into the knockout stages.

Andonovski may have surprised himself with some of the names he filled in in pencil. But as with several other top teams, injuries have forced him to change his plans in recent months.

Sauerbrunn, 38, announced last week that she would miss the World Cup with a foot injury. As well as being a tenacious central defender for many years, she was also a respected role model for her teammates: the team’s zen master of confidence and composure, not to mention the anchor of the back line as it won the past two World Cups.

Her announcement came just weeks after Swanson, the quick-footed striker who had been Andonovski’s most dangerous striker this year, ruptured the patellar tendon in her left knee. Other players with World Cup experience, including Mewis, Abby Dahlkemper, Christen Press and Tobin Heath, have been out with injuries or still coming back from surgeries. Macario just didn’t have time to get back up to speed after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee while playing in France last year.

However, there will be many well-known and experienced players when Andonovski and his team reunite next week for a training camp in California. Julie Ertz, 10 months after having a baby, has stepped straight back into the team’s midfield. Crystal Dunn, who gave birth to a son 13 months ago, is also likely to return. Kelley O’Hara, who was injured earlier this year, should be on her way to her fourth World Cup appearance and Emily Sonnett is expected to make her second appearance. Lavelle and Lindsey Horan could provide a familiar combination of grit and flash in midfield.

However, casual fans will have to learn some new names at the same time. In her World Cup debut, Naomi Girma, a 23-year-old defender of the San Diego Wave, former Stanford team captain and daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, could be in line to replace Sauerbrunn. And three young forwards – Smith, Rodman and Alyssa Thompson – have what it takes to push Morgan, Rapinoe and Lynn Williams forward.

The 18-year-old Thompson was called up after Swanson’s injury; she should become the youngest American women’s soccer player in a World Cup since at least 2007. She was the first draft pick in last year’s NWSL draft and has the energy, skill and phenomenal speed to be a generational player. But she also just graduated from high school.

With all the new players mixed in with the old, it remains to be seen if the team that shows up in New Zealand will have the swagger of the last. The team’s superiority in the women’s game is under pressure due to growing investment and the growing power of rivals in Europe. Last fall, the United States lost three games in a row for the first time since 1993.

That the defeats came against three European opponents – Germany, England and Spain – was an unmistakable message to outsiders: the United States is still among the favourites. But the margin may be finer than ever.