The U.S. Women’s National Team will begin training for the SheBelieves Cup with a majority of the team’s heavy hitters.
Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan and Mallory Pugh headline Jill Ellis’ 25-player roster ahead of the upcoming tournament, which will pit the USWNT against Germany, France and England from March 1-7. The U.S. will first take on Germany at Talen Energy Stadium before facing England and France at Red Bull Arena and RFK Stadium, respectively.
The roster will be cut to 23 at the conclusion of camp, which kicks off in Orlando on Feb. 20. Of the 25 players, nine have 20 caps or less while five enter with over 100 caps. In addition, the camp has four uncapped players: goalkeeper Jane Campbell and midfielders Sarah Killion, Rose Lavelle and Brianna Pinto
“January gave us a chance to see some new faces in with the veterans, and get some quality time on the training field,” Ellis said. “A player’s performance in that camp and positional depth guided our selection for this pre-camp, and from here we will select our SheBelieves Cup roster. There will be no better test than opening against Germany, so we will need to have a laser focus as soon as we land in Orlando.
“As our players have not yet returned to their clubs, they have been training in their independent environments, so playing as much 11v11 situations will again be critical during these few days.”
Here’s a closer look at the full roster:
GOALKEEPERS: Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS: Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS: Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Sarah Killion (Sky Blue FC), Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Samantha Mewis (NC Courage), Brianna Pinto (CASL)
FORWARDS: Crystal Dunn (Chelsea Ladies FC), Alex Morgan (Olympique Lyonnais), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (UCLA), Amy Rodriguez (FC Kansas City), Lynn Williams (NC Courage)
One of the most glaring deficiencies with our USWNT has been the inability to score on set plays.
This includes Corner Kicks as well as Free Kicks. As many opportunities as the U. S. gets continually, we should be scoring on 2 or more set plays in MOST of our matches. However, when is the last time you remember the U.S. scoring on a set play?? What you will remember is Columbia scoring 2 against us at the Olympics. I am so tired of us continually taking short corner kicks every time, that I assume we have simply given up trying to score that way. Lets hope some new faces on the roster can fill this void before our next BIG match!!!!! I have never seen a GREAT Soccer Team that didn’t have a top Free Kick Specialist!!!
Look at the stats. Short corners have better results than a traditional corner kick. If anything, we should want our teams to take more short corners.