The 2023 women’s World Cup kicks off this week, and the United States is out to defend its back-to-back championships from 2015 and 2019. Here’s what to know about the 23 players on the American squad.
Players are listed by position, then in alphabetical order.
GOALKEEPERS
Aubrey Kingsbury
— Age: 31
— Hometown: Cincinnati
— Club: Washington Spirit
— Senior national team games (caps): 1
She won the third netminder spot on the squad with excellent play in the NWSL, topping U.S. veterans Adrianna Franch and Jane Campbell.
Casey Murphy
— Age: 27
— Hometown: Bridgewater, N.J.
— Club: North Carolina Courage
— Caps: 14
The Rutgers product likely will be No. 2 on the depth chart, but has a solid case to be No. 1 as a strong shot-stopper. If the U.S. wins its first two group games, don’t be surprised if she starts the third.
Alyssa Naeher
— Age: 35
— Hometown: Stratford, Conn.
— Club: Chicago Red Stars
— Caps: 91
There are no questions about what the World Cup-winning starter from 2019 can do. Her penalty-kick save in that tournament’s semifinals and saves in recent U.S. games have made sure of that. But the Penn State alumna has had some serious struggles at club level this year, enough to spark concerns among scouts and analysts.
It will help that the U.S. has a better defense overall than the second-to-last-place Red Stars do. Will it help enough, though, on a squad that’s thin at centerback and still a work in progress at midfield? The question won’t be answered until kickoff.
CENTERBACKS
Alana Cook
— Age: 26
— Hometown: Far Hills, N.J.
— Club: OL Reign
— Caps: 25
Since we’re on the subject, let’s stay there. Cook was long projected to be the third or fourth centerback on the squad. But when captain Becky Sauerbrunn suffered a foot injury, Cook was elevated to No. 2.
Though she is steady for her club, she has made some glaring and costly mistakes for her country. Now, Cook is going into the brightest spotlight of all.
By the way, though she grew up in North Jersey (after being born in Massachusetts), Cook has a Philadelphia-area tie. She went to high school at the Pennington School in Mercer County, N.J., not far past the Delaware River from New Hope and Yardley.
Naomi Girma
— Age: 23
— Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
— Club: San Diego Wave
— Caps: 16
She has been a star in the making for a while, and now it’s time to officially get there. Few young defenders have such a combination of skill, positioning, and levelheadedness. It’s remarkable that Girma is the USWNT’s top centerback at this age, but she has earned the title.
Emily Sonnett
— Age: 29
— Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
— Club: OL Reign
— Caps: 75
Her experience at the 2019 World Cup and 2021 Olympics makes her a key veteran. Sonnett’s charismatic locker room presence makes her just as important off the field. She also can play multiple positions, having been a centerback and outside back for the U.S. and a defensive midfielder at club level.
There’s just one problem: the centerback depth chart stops here. It’s no slight on Sonnett, to be clear, but it’s rare for a World Cup team to have three centerbacks instead of four — and even rarer when the third isn’t really a regular at the position. Coach Vlatko Andonovski’s biggest gamble is not taking Tierna Davidson to bolster the ranks.
OUTSIDE BACKS
Crystal Dunn
— Age: 31
— Hometown: Rockville Centre, N.Y.
— Club: Portland Thorns
— Caps: 132
Though she is a locked-in starter as the team’s top left back, there are multiple positions at which she’s even better. Dunn is a midfielder for her club team, the Portland Thorns, and for years at past clubs — and the national team long ago — was a prolific forward.
But she will go to the back line again with the national team, as she so often does. If there’s any safe bet with this team, it’s that Dunn will make the job her own again, in her own way, and try her best to shine while others try to control the narrative.
Emily Fox
— Age: 25
— Hometown: Ashburn, Va.
— Club: North Carolina Courage
— Caps: 29
The best U.S. left back prospect in a generation was supposed to free Dunn to play elsewhere. Instead, Andonovski moved Fox to the other side of the field and made her the starting right back. It’s not a new role for her, but it’s a question mark — especially with two other right backs on the roster.
Sofia Huerta
— Age: 30
— Hometown: Boise, Idaho
— Club: OL Reign
— Caps: 30
One of this team’s best stories, she finally makes a World Cup team after growing up with U.S. youth teams, switching to Mexico, then switching back six years ago.
Kelley O’Hara
— Age: 34
— Hometown: Fayetteville, Ga.
— Club: Gotham FC
— Caps: 157
When she’s healthy, the veteran of six major tournaments is still a great player. Unfortunately, she has been injured too often recently, including an ankle issue a few months ago. But the reason why she’s on the team is clear, as Andonovski said when he called her to tell her she made it: “There’s no player in the world that can match Kelley O’Hara’s mentality, especially in big tournaments.”
MIDFIELDERS
Savannah DeMelo
— Age: 25
— Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
— Club: Racing Louisville
— Caps: 1
Her eight goals and three assists in 15 games this year made her just the third player in U.S. history to make a women’s World Cup team with no games yet played for the senior squad, and the first in 20 years. Her debut came in the send-off game on July 9.
Julie Ertz
— Age: 31
— Hometown: Mesa, Ariz.
— Club: Angel City FC
— Caps: 118
If she’s healthy and firing, she’s in the starting lineup in ink. But it’s a mighty if, and she knows it as well as anyone.
The former Philadelphian (and it’s still in her heart) went over 600 days without playing, from the 2021 Olympics until this spring, because of injury and pregnancy. She returned to the U.S. squad in April before signing with Angel City a few days later.
Should Ertz have walked back in when other players had done more of late to earn a shot? Andonovski had no doubts, and it was his call.
Lindsey Horan
— Age: 29
— Hometown: Golden, Colo.
— Club: Lyon (France)
— Caps: 129
Four years ago, she went to the World Cup with hype as a potential MVP, then played just over half the available minutes. Now she’s the U.S. captain but doesn’t mind being out of the spotlight. Look at any box score, though, and you’ll see her impact on games is immense. Will this be the year the world sees it?
Rose Lavelle
— Age: 28
— Hometown: Cincinnati
— Club: OL Reign
— Caps: 88
Her otherworldly talent hit the biggest heights of all when she scored an epic goal in the last World Cup final. Now she’s not just a fantastic playmaker, but an underrated defensive high-presser. She’s also injury-prone, which is a big worry. DeMelo making the squad might be an insurance policy.
Kristie Mewis
— Age: 32
— Hometown: Hanson, Mass.
— Club: Gotham FC
— Caps: 52
The veteran of the last Olympics is an ideal backup: reliable, hardworking, versatile, and fun in the locker room.
Ashley Sanchez
— Age: 24
— Hometown: Monrovia, Calif.
— Club: Washington Spirit
— Caps: 25
As a teenager, she was as big a phenom as the U.S. youth program has seen, but real life as a young pro wasn’t so easy. She put the work in, though, and now is showing off her talents.
Andi Sullivan
— Age: 27
— Hometown: Lorton, Va.
— Club: Washington Spirit
— Caps: 45
She was long touted as a future U.S. captain but turned out to not quite be Ertz’s successor at defensive midfield. Then everyone realized that perhaps no one is truly equal, and Sullivan plays the position differently: less ball-hawking, more tempo control, and elite passing.
Once Andonovski started playing lineups that gave Sullivan some help, she starred. Then Ertz came back. So what now? We’ll have to wait to see.
FORWARDS
Alex Morgan
— Age: 34
— Hometown: Diamond Bar, Calif.
— Club: San Diego Wave
— Caps: 207
The star of stars, this squad’s vice-captain, and still as lethal a scorer as ever. But had things gone to the original plan, she wouldn’t have had as big a role as she will now.
Catarina Macario was to be the starting striker, with Morgan coming off the bench — and what could strike more fear in opponents than that? But when Macario went down with a torn ACL, Morgan was asked to step back up.
She has done so and then some, with big goals in the World Cup-qualifying tournament and friendlies since. Look no further than her righteous smash past Brazil in February that gave her a special record: the most U.S. goals scored as a mother.
Megan Rapinoe
— Age: 38
— Hometown: Redding, Calif.
— Club: OL Reign
— Caps: 199
If you’re only just tuning in, you might expect to see her as much as you ever have. Not this time. In her final World Cup before retiring at the end of the year, she’ll likely be a key late-game sub. But in the knockout rounds, when set pieces and penalty kicks matter even more, expect the impact she does make to be as important as ever.
Trinity Rodman
— Age: 21
— Hometown: Laguna Niguel, Calif.
— Club: Washington Spirit
— Caps: 18
You’ll hear often that former NBA star Dennis Rodman is her father. Hopefully, you’ll hear far more about her great soccer skills. She can play as a winger or as a central striker, and she stood out in the latter role with two goals in the World Cup send-off win over Wales. Either way, expect to see her on the field a lot during the tournament.
Sophia Smith
— Age: 22
— Hometown: Windsor, Colo.
— Club: Portland Thorns
— Caps: 30
Everyone who has picked Smith as the Americans’ breakout star at this World Cup is correct. She’s already a star in the soccer world, and now it’s time for her to hit the stratosphere. She’s a lethal finisher, unafraid to run into any traffic jam, and has a ruthless swagger beneath her off-field smile.
Smith will start as the right winger next to Morgan, then likely move inside when Morgan isn’t playing. Wherever she lines up on the front line, she can and will score. Get ready.
Alyssa Thompson
— Age: 18
— Hometown: Studio City, Calif.
— Club: Angel City FC
— Caps: 4
No player is a better example of Andonovski’s youth movement than the teenage winger who was the first pick in this year’s NWSL draft. Thompson played multiple games for the senior national team not just before turning pro, but while still in high school.
Andonovski could have made a safer pick in striker Ashley Hatch, a U.S. regular and regular scorer for the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. But while some of his other roster gambles were criticized, this one was cheered. Watching Thompson rise will be a great show.
Lynn Williams
— Age: 30
— Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
— Club: Gotham FC
— Caps: 53
Another front-line veteran, one whose years of hard work in the NWSL earned her an Olympic debut in 2021 and her first World Cup this year. She’s been on a scoring hot streak for Gotham FC this year, including a terrific goal in her last game before leaving for World Cup camp.
Williams is also an elite defensive high-presser, the best on the forward line and perhaps the best on the whole team. With Mallory Swanson out injured, either Williams or Rodman will start on the left wing. Many outsiders would like it to be Williams.
