The U.S. women’s national team returns to action this week with two international friendlies against South Africa.
Each game will mark the end of an era in a not-so-subtle way. Team legends Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe will be honored and make their final international appearances Thursday and Sunday, respectively, while interim coach Twila Kilgore will be leading the team because Vlatko Andonovski resigned last month.
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Here’s where things stand with the USWNT, what to look for and what’s next.
Honoring Ertz and Rapinoe
Ertz will play her final international match with the squad Thursday at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. Ertz, a two-time World Cup winner and two-time U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year, announced her retirement from professional soccer on Aug. 31.
She will be honored before the match, her 123rd career international appearance for the U.S.
Ertz, 31, has recorded 20 goals in her career with Team USA. She was named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2017 and 2019 and helped lead the USWNT to World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019. She also spent eight seasons in the NWSL, playing seven years with the Chicago Red Stars and most recently appearing with Angel City FC in 2023 (Ertz did not return to the NWSL after this summer’s World Cup).
Ertz was sidelined for 18 months following the 2021 Olympics due to injuries and the birth of her son, but came back in time to play in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. She was named to the USWNT roster for April camp, less than a year after giving birth, and played every minute of the Americans’ four matches in New Zealand and Australia over the summer.
Rapinoe’s last game with the national team will come Sunday in Chicago at Soldier Field. She will not play in Thursday’s game and will be honored ahead of Sunday’s.
Rapinoe, 38, announced before the 2023 World Cup she would finish the NWSL season and retire this year, doing so earning 203 USWNT caps.
OL Reign, Rapinoe’s NWSL side, is scheduled to play its last regular-season match on Oct. 15; the club’s last home game, on Oct. 6, is being advertised as “Forever Reign: A Celebration of Megan Rapinoe.”
Rapinoe is a two-time World Cup champion, the 2019 Ballon d’Or Féminin winner and a two-time Olympic medalist, helping Team USA to gold in the London Games and bronze in Tokyo. Rapinoe has played her entire 11-year NWSL career with the Reign.
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The forward enters her final game with 63 goals and 73 assists for the USWNT, both of which rank in the top 10 in U.S. history. Rapinoe appeared in three matches at this summer’s World Cup, logging 80 minutes as the U.S. lost in the round of 16.
Who else is on the roster?
The latest USWNT training camp roster marked the return of Tierna Davidson, Casey Krueger, Ashley Hatch and Sam Coffey after they were left off the 2023 World Cup squad.
Midfielder Kristie Mewis and forward Sophia Smith were the only members of the World Cup roster not called in for the games against South Africa as they recover from injuries.
Rose Lavelle and Kelley O’Hara were also initially named to the team but had to withdraw due to ongoing recovery. Gotham FC forward Midge Purce and Angel City FC defender M.A. Vignola replaced them on the roster.
The roster includes two uncapped players, Jaedyn Shaw and Mia Fishel, who recently transferred from Tigres to Chelsea.
View the full 27-player roster.
(Matthew Emmons / USA Today)How to watch the friendlies
Thursday’s game in Cincinnati will air at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT, Universo and Peacock. Action from Soldier Field will air at 4:30 p.m. CT Sunday on TNT, Universo and Peacock.
USWNT schedule
| Opponent | Date | Time | How to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
South Africa | Sept. 21 | 7:30 p.m. ET | TNT, Universo and Peacock |
South Africa | Sept. 24 | 5:30 p.m. ET | TNT, Universo and Peacock |
Colombia | Oct. 26 | 9 p.m. ET | TNT, Universo and Peacock |
Colombia | Oct. 29 | 5:30 p.m. ET | TNT, Telemundo, Universo and Peacock |
What’s up with the coaching search?
U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker shed light on the USWNT coaching search after one of the men’s team’s friendlies earlier this month, saying “in an ideal world” the federation hopes to have the position filled by the start of December camp.
Crocker said Kilgore will remain in the interim role through the team’s October friendlies. Crocker added that the federation is looking to hire a coach who “has got the ability to make in-game changes in key moments to improve the performance of the team.”
Andonovski resigned as USWNT coach after a disappointing World Cup campaign that saw his roster and playing time decisions called into question.
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Asked what attributes he’s looking for in the next USWNT coach, Crocker said: “If you look tactically, we already know that we’ve got a great group of athletic women and a huge pool to pick from, so things like our ability to transition quickly is a key strength, defensively we’ve been really strong.
“I guess what we’d like to do is maybe develop more in a possession-based style and to have maybe a Plan B and a coach that has got the ability to make in-game changes in key moments to improve the performance of the team is going to be key, and obviously a coach that is a development coach, so a coach that can integrate young players into the team is going to be important. But then probably the final attribute is going to be the human skills, the leadership skills, so a strong communicator, someone that can build fantastic relationships, someone that can drive the program forward is all gonna be key.”
What else is new?
U.S. Soccer announced last week that it will build a national training facility in the Atlanta metropolitan area funded in part by a $50 million donation from Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank.
The federation has not yet finalized an exact location for the facility, but it hopes that construction will begin next year. U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson is currently leading the search for the site, which will be selected in January 2024.
The organization has also not set a target opening date for the facility, which will serve as headquarters for U.S. Soccer, currently based in Chicago. It will include training fields, facilities for coaching and referee education, recovery and performance analysis and other infrastructure. It will also host youth tournaments and soccer conferences.
“We’re not just erecting a building or facility. This is a once-in-a-generation moment for soccer in the U.S.,” Blank said at an event commemorating the facility announcement Saturday.
Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens said his city is now “the capital of soccer in this nation,” while MLS commissioner Don Garber called the facility “one of the most important projects in the history of soccer in America.”
(Top photos: Jenna Watson / USA Today)
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