USWNT announces training camp roster ahead of friendlies against Sweden and France

USWNT will play international friendlies in Europe on April 10 and 13

The U.S. Women's National Team will travel to Europe during the April FIFA international match window and will face Sweden on April 10 and France on April 13. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski has named his roster for the upcoming camp ahead of the international matches.

"I give our larger pool of players credit for always making selections difficult, but this group going to Europe has shown consistent quality in their performances as well as in their abilities to contribute to the overall chemistry of the team," said Andonovski. "We still have much evaluation to do from trainings, international matches, NWSL matches and overseas club matches before selecting the Olympic Team, but I'm really looking forward to these two games for what adversity they will bring. The exciting thing is that I know our players have the talent and mentality to meet those adversities with a great energy and overcome them."

The roster features several NWSL regulars and echoes much of the 2021 SheBelieves Cup camp, with Sam Mewis and Alana Cook making their return to USWNT training. USWNT forward Tobin Heath is currently recovering from an injury with Manchester United. Jaelin Howell, Mal Pugh, and Casey Krueger are other notable absences from previous SheBelieves camps. Andonovski explained that Pugh and Kruger, along with Heath, are in contention for Olympic roster evaluation but could not participate in current camps due to minor injuries picked up in preseason.

"There are players that are not on this roster because they're injured like Tobin Heath is injured, Casey [Krueger] picked up a small knock in her friendly game with Chicago and [was] sidelined for a week. She's back now training, but physically, she won't be fit for this camp or for games to the international level, so she's not in this camp. Same goes for Mallory Pugh, who picked up injury in the last camp and she's still recovering from that."

The familiar roster includes several NWSL clubs represented with 17 players and six who are currently playing in Europe. The upcoming friendlies against Sweden and France will take place during the 2021 NWSL Challenge cup, followed by a months long window till Tournament of Nations. The 2021 NWSL season will kick off on May 15, with limited international time together ahead of the Olympics, Andonovski and his staff have plans to continue evaluating players with their club teams ahead of the Olympics, a practice Andonovski says is already in place during NWSL preseason.

"Some of these players, or some of these teams have had friendly games. So we've watched every friendly game or so I would say, majority of the friendly games that the teams have in the preseason. Whether it's a 45 minutes, 60 minutes, or 90 minutes that they're on the field, everything gets gets evaluated. We're gonna watch the Challenge Cup. Some of them are going to be live, some of them are going to be on TV, and we'll absolutely watch the games that they're going to play once the season starts. So, we know that the window is short and that's why we're going to maximise on the opportunities that we have and we'll take everything into consideration."

USWNT roster (club; caps/goals): 

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 5), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage; 0), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 67)

DEFENDERS (8): Alana Cook (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA; 2/0), Abby Dahlkemper (Manchester City, ENG; 65/0), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars; 28/1), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC; 109/24), Kelley O'Hara (Washington Spirit; 134/2), Margaret Purce (Sky Blue FC; 6/1), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 182/0), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit; 51/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars; 108/20), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC; 91/20), Rose Lavelle (Manchester City, ENG; 51/14), Catarina Macario (Olympique Lyonnais, FRA; 3/1), Kristie Mewis (Houston Dash; 21/4), Samantha Mewis (Manchester City, ENG; 70/21)

FORWARDS (6): Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC; 299/124), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride; 173/108), Christen Press (Manchester United, ENG; 142/60), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign; 173/57), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC; 3/0), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage; 33/10)