Carli Lloyd, Ali Krieger on U.S. women's soccer roster for Tournament of Nations
Penn State alum Ali Krieger was left off the team for the June games in Scandinavia. Now, she's back.
Here's the U.S. women's soccer team roster for the Tournament of Nations, in which the Americans will face Australia, Brazil and Japan beginning later this month:
Goalkeepers (3): Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Abby Smith (Boston Breakers)
Defenders (7): Abby Dahlkemper (North Carolina Courage), Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride), Kelley O'Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Taylor Smith (North Carolina Courage)
Midfielders (6): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns), Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage), Margaret Purce (Boston Breakers), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC)
Forwards (7): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea, England), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns), Sydney Leroux (FC Kansas City), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Washington Spirit), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage)
The headlines:
Krieger is back with the team after being left off the roster for the June trip to Scandinavia. The Penn State alumnus has been up and down the depth chart since the 2015 World Cup, and we'll see if she gets a chance to make her case in these games. Her quite loud legion of fans on social media would certainly like that to happen. But O'Hara has had the starting right back job on lockdown for a while now, and has shown few signs of giving it up.
Smith and Purce are the newcomers. U.S. head coach Jill Ellis has a habit of bringing a few young players from off the radar to her squads, and these two fit the bill. Smith is a 23-year-old left back in her second year as a pro. Purce is a rookie out of Harvard who has played all over the field for the Breakers – who coincidentally call the Crimson's soccer field home. She scored 42 goals in 62 games over four years in college, and is now the first Harvard alum to get a U.S. senior national team call-up.
There are three notable injury absences. Goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris (Orlando) hurt a quad in late May; midfielder Rose Lavelle (Boston) tweaked a hamstring in last month's U.S.-Norway game; and midfielder Tobin Heath (Portland) has a long-term back problem that is becoming a significant concern for outside observers. Kealia Ohai (Houston) is also out for the year with a sprained ACL and torn meniscus in her left knee.
Among non-injury absences, the big name is outside back Meghan Klingenberg (Portland). Other notables are, in some order: midfielders Sarah Killion (Sky Blue), Danielle Colaprico (Chicago) and Vanessa DiBernardo (Chicago); goalkeeper Adrianna Franch (Portland); and defender Jaelene Hinkle (North Carolina).
In addition to the 23 players on the official roster, Ellis has invited Red Stars midfielder Sofia Huerta to train with the squad, with an eye on bringing her onto a roster down the road. Huerta was born in the United States, but has FIFA eligibility for Mexico through family lineage and has played for that country's national team.
As a teenager, she was deemed not good enough — and not likely to become good enough — to be part of the American program. So she committed to Mexico, playing for that country at the 2012 Under-20 World Cup. Since then, she has won five caps at the senior level, but they have all come in friendlies. So she's eligible to make the one-time nationality switch that we see often in the men's game.
Tournament of Nations schedule
Thursday, July 27: Brazil vs. Japan (7:15 p.m., WatchESPN.com) and United States vs. Australia (10 p.m., ESPN) at CenturyLink Field, Seattle
Sunday, July 30: Japan vs. Australia (5:15 p.m., WatchESPN.com) and United States vs. Brazil (8 p.m., ESPN2) at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
Thursday, August 3: Australia vs. Brazil (7:15 p.m., WatchESPN.com) and United States vs. Japan (10 p.m., ESPN2) at StubHub Center, Carson, Calif.