USA: Five players to watch

Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Alex Morgan feature as we look at five of the USWNT's key performers.

What nation could even dream of glory having lost the likes of Becky Sauerbrunn, Sam Mewis, Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson to injury?

The answer is one that produces elite female footballers as prolifically as it does soybeans – and ones with champion mentalities in their DNA – and has conquered 50 per cent of Fifa Women’s World Cup™ tournaments, including the last two.

If Jill Ellis’s 2015 and 2019 sides were similar, Vlatko Andonovski’s cast will be significantly different. It will still, however, begin in Australia & New Zealand as the title favourites, albeit marginally from England. Fifa spotlights five stars who could inspire the history-making ‘threepeat’.

Julie Ertz

She was a centre-back surnamed Johnson at Canada 2015 and a midfielder surnamed Ertz four years later. The Arizonan had Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle for company in a brilliant, battery-charged engine room in France, but with one of those out and the other lacking match fitness, Ertz’s importance to USA’s hopes has heightened.

The two-time US Soccer Player of the Year, who is married to Super Bowl-winning tight end Zach Ertz, gave birth to Madden Matthew last August but made her international return after over 600 days out in April.

“I don’t want to get back to being the player I was in 2019,” she said. “I want to be better. Being out has given me a new perspective, a new drive. I want this World Cup more than ever.”

Lindsey Horan

“I think this has to be the youngest team that we’ve ever had,” said the girl from Golden. That’s why Horan, a vastly experienced campaigner who has won the NWSL and Uefa Women’s Champions League – and recently joked that she has “dusty bones” – is such a fundamental element of the USA squad.

Having missed Canada 2015 and been a bit-part player at France 2019, Horan is now eager to seize her chance as a starter. Andonovski charges the Coloradan with controlling the pace of games and playmaking, and as a former striker, she can also chip in with goals.

Trinity Rodman

Dennis Rodman may be one of the greatest defensive players in NBA history, but although she wears the No 2 shirt for Washington Spirit, his daughter is all about attacking. The 21-year-old is rapid, tricky and scores goals.

The youngest drafted player in NWSL history, Rodman has seemingly made a place in Andonovski’s XI her own, on the right of a front three.

“She’s really dangerous, a tremendous finisher,” the USA coach has said of the girl from Newport Beach.

Sophia Smith

The reigning NWSL MVP and US Soccer Player of the Year is ready to take Australia & New Zealand 2023 by storm. “It’s on my mind 24/7!” she told Fifa. “Every day. It will be my first big tournament with the senior team. Representing my country is such an honour – every time – so I can only imagine what it will be like in the World Cup. The men’s World Cup also got me really excited. I just think it’s going to be an amazing tournament.”

Smith, a master creator and taker of goals, will be central to USA’s chances, whether operating as their spearhead or in a more withdrawn role.

Alex Morgan

The Californian is in her 14th year representing USA, but shows no signs of slowing down. She won the NWSL Golden Boot last year, finished runner-up to Alexia Putellas in The Best Fifa Women’s Player running in February, and continues to score regularly for San Diego Wave and the USWNT.

“Alex was born for big moments,” said Andonovski of the player who netted six times at France 2019. “She’s a one-off.”

Morgan herself is confident she will claim a third straight Women’s World Cup winner’s medal. “I think that this team is the best we've ever had,” she stated. “We have the talent, the quality, the right coach, the right players, the right camaraderie, the right mentality.”