Andonovski Announces 24-Player Roster for January BioSteel Boot Camp and Matches in New Zealand

Chicago (January 5, 2023) – USA Girls’s Nationwide Crew head coach Vlatko Andonovski has chosen a 24-player roster for the January BioSteel Coaching Camp and a visit to New Zealand, which is able to embrace two matches in opposition to the 2023 FIFA Girls’s World Cup co-host Soccer Ferns.

USWNT will prepare for six days in New Zealand earlier than dealing with Ferns at Sky Stadium (Wellington Regional Stadium in the course of the World Cup) in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara. The match will kick off at 16:00 native time on January 18 and 10:00 ET on January 17 in the US. The groups meet once more at Eden Park in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau on January 21 at 4 PM regionally and once more at 10 PM ET within the US on January 20. Tickets for both matches On sale by way of New Zealand Soccer.

TNT and HBO Max may have a devoted English homepage for stay US Soccer streaming beginning 2023. Each matches can be obtainable on HBO Max from New Zealand. On match days, followers can head to the HBO Max homepage or sports activities style web page to look at the match stay and watch pre- and post-match broadcasts with out business breaks. Replays of the match can be obtainable instantly after the post-game broadcast.

The 2 gamers are again on this first US squad of the yr after defending defender Emily Sonnett and ahead Lynn Williams get well from long-term accidents, however US forwards Sophia Smith (foot) and Megan Rapinoe (ankle) won’t be. Having made 69 appearances, Sonnett final performed for the USA on July 14 when he scored his first worldwide purpose within the Concacaf W Championship semi-final in opposition to Costa Rica. Williams (47 appearances/14 targets), who had hamstring surgical procedure that left him injured for the complete 2022 NWSL season, final performed for the USA within the 2022 SheBelieves Cup on February 23.

“We have been pondering and planning for the World Cup for a very long time, however as soon as the calendar turns into the World Cup yr, it positively brings some renewed focus and vitality because the match kicks off in lower than 200 days,” he stated. Andonovski. “There are such a lot of advantages to bringing the workforce to New Zealand in January and enjoying on our World Cup grounds, so we are going to ensure we benefit from our time collectively, make this journey as productive as attainable and that as many as attainable get pleasure from a novel expertise for many of our gamers. by no means been to New Zealand earlier than.”

USA Girls’s Nationwide Crew Roster by Place (Membership; jersey/purpose) – January BioSteel Coaching Camp NZL:

GOALTENDER (3): Adrianna Franch (Kansas Metropolis Present; 10), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Braveness; 11), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Crimson Stars; 86)

DEFENDANTS (8): Alana Prepare dinner (OL Reign; 19/0), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC; 126/24), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville FC; 22/0), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC; 10/0), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign; 25/0), Hailie Mace (Kansas Metropolis Present; 8/0), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC; 211/0), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit; 69/1)

MIDDLE FIELD (7): Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC; 4/0), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 122/26), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave FC; 7/1), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign; 84/22), Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 46/7), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit; 17/3), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit; 37/3)

NEXT (6): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit; 14/4), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave FC; 200/119), Midge Purce (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 20/4), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 10/2), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Crimson Stars; 82/25), Lynn Williams (Kansas Metropolis Present; 47/14)

The USA has performed Soccer Ferns 19 instances however by no means performed in New Zealand, so these would be the first video games in New Zealand for the USWNT, which has performed 715 video games in its historical past.

Whereas the US go to to New Zealand in January would be the pinnacle of summer time, the upcoming World Cup marks the primary FIFA Girls’s World Cup held within the southern hemisphere, the place it will likely be winter and matches may be performed in chilly climate.

On the World Cup to be held from 20 July to twenty August… 20 of 10 stadiums in 9 host cities – 5 in Australia and 4 in New Zealand – USWNT, on July 22 in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau’ It can open its Group E match in opposition to Vietnam at Eden Park in London, which may also function the host venue. 2023 World Cup Opening Ceremony with New Zealand enjoying Norway on 20 July. The USA then face the Netherlands at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara on July 27, adopted by the Group A Playoff Winner on August 1 at Eden Park in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Extra Notes:

• Former Mallory Pugh, who married Chicago Cubs centerback Dansby Swanson in December final yr, will play for the primary time in these first video games of 2023 along with her married title on the again of her jersey.

• The roster consists of simply 4 gamers with 100 or extra appearances, together with defender Becky Sauerbrunn (211), Alex Morgan (200), Crystal Dunn (126) and Lindsey Horan (122).

• The roster consists of 14 gamers with 25 or fewer appearances, together with three single-digit gamers like Hailie Mace (8), Taylor Kornieck (7) and Sam Coffey (4).

• Morgan is by far the highest scorer with 119 profession targets and ranks fifth in US historical past. Horan has 26 worldwide targets, Swanson has 25, Dunn has 24 and Rose Lavelle has 22.

• 13 gamers on this roster noticed motion in the newest encounter between the USA and New Zealand and the 2022 SheBelieves Cup. Swanson and Ashley Hatch scored for the USA within the win, whereas Hatch and defender Sofia Huerta counted assists and Alyssa Naeher didn’t concede.

• 9 completely different NWSL golf equipment are represented on this roster, led by 5 gamers from Washington Spirit and three every from Portland Thorns FC, Kansas Metropolis Present, San Diego Wave FC and OL Reign.

• Matches in New Zealand imply USWNT may have performed two video games in opposition to each of the 2023 Girls’s World Cup co-hosts of their house nations inside 13 months of visiting Australia in late November 2021. Two gamers on this roster – goalkeeper Casey Murphy and midfielder Ashley Sanchez – earned their first USWNT jerseys throughout their journey to Australia.

• Welcoming almost 50,000 followers, Eden Park is New Zealand’s Nationwide Stadium and has hosted many main sporting occasions within the nation’s historical past. The unique sports activities floor on the positioning opened 122 years in the past in 1900.

• This match, which can be performed in opposition to the USA at Eden Park, would be the first match of the New Zealand Girls’s Nationwide Crew, which has traditionally had gamers unfold everywhere in the world and has began enjoying intermittent house matches.

• The sport at Sky Stadium, which can be often called the Wellington District Stadium as a consequence of sponsorship preparations and can host 34,500 followers for the World Cup, can be Ferns’ first sport at this venue since 2018.