By Jennifer Edwards
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (January 6, 2020) New head coach Vlatko Andronovski released his roster for the United States National Women’s Soccer team on December 27. There were almost no surprises among the players
and die-hard fans. The one surprise came in the call-up of Sophia Smith, a junior at Stanford
University. She is in place of Alex Morgan who is currently out due to pregnancy.
This roster showcases many of the household names from the Women’s World Cup tournament
played over the past summer. While this sounds like a solid plan going into the Olympic qualifying happening in the next month, this team is an aging team. They will have to rely on their veteran
players such as Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz and Becky Sauerbrunn. With very few newcomers or
younger returners to the team. Margaret Purce, a defender for the NWSL Portland Thorns;
Casey Short, both have been in training camp before; Andy Sullivan, a midfielder for the NSWL
Washington Spirit; and Lynn Williams, a forward for the NWSL North Carolina Courage have
made the trip to Tampa, Florida for training camp. Jane Campbell, a veteran USWNT
goalkeeper and keeper for the NWSL Houston Dash was also named to the camp as one of the
four goalkeepers. This number can be expected to drop to three before the final roster is named.
The coaching staff has seen some major changes in addition to the new head coach. Milan
Ivanovic was appointed to technical staff as well. Dawn Scott, the High Performance Coach for
the USWNT for the past nine years has stepped down and a new replacement has yet to be
announced. It remains to be seen how these coaching changes will affect how the US team
tackles the game on the world stage. It is expected that the on-field set up will probably change
to better suit the new head coach and the players will have to adapt to that. With only a few
newcomers, it is expected to change seamlessly. While a new head coach traditionally brings
sweeping changes, it seems that Andonovski is keeping his cards close to the vest and playing it
safe for the Olympics.
There is a lot in store for the USWNT. The fans have a lot of amazing soccer to see in the
Olympic qualifting happening at BBVA Compass Stadium beginning on January 28, when they take on
Haiti and the play against Costa Rica.
No comments:
Post a Comment