Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
By MICHAEL PENG
While the U.S. Women’s National Team continues its victory tour after capturing the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup last month, five members of the team earned new honors for their performances in the tournament.
In a report published by FIFA’s Technical Study Group on Monday, 23 players were named to the tournament’s All-Star Squad, with the USWNT’s Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Julie Johnston, Meghan Klingenberg and Megan Rapinoe featured on the list.
The selection is based on the “comprehensive statistics of the 52 matches as well as technical and tactical analysis, trends, confederations analysis, a refereeing report, a goal-line technology report and a medical report,” according to the report.
Here is the full list of the All-Star Squad:
Goalkeepers: Nadine Angerer (Germany), Karen Bardsley (England), Hope Solo (United States)
Defenders: Saori Ariyoshi (Japan), Lucy Bronze (England), Kadeisha Buchanan (Canada), Steph Houghton (England), Julie Johnston (United States), Meghan Klingenberg (United States), Wendie Renard (France)
Midfielders and forwards: Ramona Bachmann (Switzerland), Lisa De Vanna (Australia), Amandine Henry (France), Elise Kellond-Knight (Australia), Eugénie Le Sommer (France), Carli Lloyd (United States), Anja Mittag (Germany), Aya Miyama (Japan), Megan Rapinoe (United States), Mizuho Sakaguchi (Japan), Celia Sasic (Germany), Elodie Thomis (France), Rumi Utsugi (Japan)
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What do you think of the All-Star squad? Any snubs?
Share your thoughts below.
Sauerbrumn?
Why didnt she get picked? And why is she always underrated?
as you’ll see above..i totally agree with you.
she got left out be/c she’s too smooth. Knows how to position herself so that everything seems simple. Like keeper that makes all the saves..and none of them look spectacular. ..b/c he had the instinct to be in the right spot.
Goalkeepers: Hope Solo (United States)
Way to go USSF! See? it pays to have low ethical standards.
… I would replace any one of the defenders with … Becky Sauerbrunn. She was without doubt the “best defender” in the tournament.
Only 5? Surely 7 would match more to the truth. We dominated this Cup during the knockout stage
I am glad not to see Alex Morgan. Was afraid she would be named because of popularity.
She was alright but would not have deserved to be listed. If she was on top of her game for this tournament, just imagine how much better this team would have been. Scary.
I think an unsung hero was Becky Sauerbrunn. She was a rock back there and a good reason for Julie Johnston’s success.
Becky Sauerbrunn is the best USWNT defender hands down. Even her teammates say so. She is not flashy, but that is because she reads organizes everything ahead of time.
What US needs to do is transition and keep/mix in more younger stars: Crystal Dunn (is a beast and should been at the World Cup), Ohai, Morgan Brian, Johnston etc. There are players that should be phased out (some of which were great in the past): I’m looking at you Wambach, Rampone, Chalupny, Boxx etc.
agree about Becky. The positioning of the veteran showed. Johnston has a great future and she made some big plays…but a number of the plays were to cover up mistakes..and as i recall she was a culprit in one or two of the goals scored against the USA. Becky definitely better than JJ.