As Olympics loom, USWNT coach Jill Ellis is looking for consistency
For the U.S. women's national team, it's almost crunch time.
The 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro are just around the corner and, fresh off winning the Women's World Cup, the USWNT are eager to become the first team to win a World Cup trophy and an Olympic gold medal in back-to-back years.
Coach Jill Ellis offered the latest glimpse of what group she will be counting on when she announced her roster on Thursday for a friendly match on July 9. The USWNT will face South Africa for the first time and it appears Ellis is nearly settled on the group that she will take to Brazil.
The roster was mostly as expected, with the group being nearly identical to the one for a pair of friendlies earlier this month. But the biggest surprise and most notable addition is the return of Megan Rapinoe, who tore her ACL in December.
Rapinoe is joining the team "for training and evaluation" but will not play in the South Africa friendly. The fact that Ellis is again bringing Rapinoe in for evaluation and this time around officially named her to the roster, it suggests she may be hoping the Seattle Reign player is close to a return.
If Ellis intends to bring Rapinoe to Brazil for the Olympics, she is certainly cutting it close. After the July 9 friendly, the USWNT has their final pre-Olympic tune-up match on July 22 against Costa Rica before heading to Brazil. If Rapinoe doesn't play then, it's hard to see how she could be ready for the Olympics.
But Ellis is a manager who likes consistency and seems to rely on a crop of preferred players when results matter, so it's not hard to see why she'd be looking to make room for Rapinoe. Rapinoe, who played so well at last summer's World Cup, is arguably one of the most creative wide players in the world, and any coach would want to have her.
The potential absence of Rapinoe could make room for others, like Heather O'Reilly, a veteran who has seen her playing time diminished ever since Ellis took over as coach in May 2014. O'Reilly typically plays on the right flank and is known for her patented cut-and-run to the endline before a cross -- but Ellis doesn't seem to rate her style of play, which is athletic and intense but lacks the creativity of a Rapinoe or Tobin Heath.
Perhaps one of the most notable things about Ellis' latest roster as the Olympics inch closer is just how different it looks from the squad that won the Women's World Cup last summer. Of the 21 outfield players on the roster, only 13 were in the group that won the World Cup.
Much of the roster turnover is not of Ellis' doing but forced by a slew of retirements, pregnancies and injuries. While the USWNT should remain the same on the defensive end, the changes since last year will be felt most in attack due to the absence of Abby Wambach (retired), Sydney Leroux (pregnant), Amy Rodriguez (pregnant) and Lauren Holiday (retired).
The Olympic roster is a much tighter one than the World Cup, however, and it will force Ellis to make some very difficult choices. While Ellis brought 23 players to Canada, the Olympic roster is capped at just 18 players. Of the 24 players called in for the South Africa friendly, at least six of them won't make the bench for Rio. The U.S. is allowed to bring four alternates for the trip in case of a late injury, but they won't be on the bench and, if the U.S. wins, they won't earn medals either.
The tight roster just might test Ellis' apparent preference to the players she knows and who have been with the national team longest. At the World Cup, the U.S. had the oldest roster in the competition by a pretty good margin, with players like 37-year-old Shannon Boxx and 39-year-old Christie Rampone making somewhat surprising inclusions.
Despite the loss of much of the core attacking talent from the Women's World Cup, the USWNT looks as potent as ever -- and as youthful as ever, too. A crop of youngsters including 18-year-old Mallory Pugh, 23-year-old Crystal Dunn and 22-year-old Lindsey Horan look like near-locks for Rio.
Ellis has hinted in not-so-many-words that she is just as focused on the 2019 Women's World Cup in France as she is on this summer's Olympics. By vetting and preparing a young-but-talented roster, Ellis seems to be killing two birds with one stone by building a strong roster for Rio, but an even stronger, more future-ready roster for France.
Ellis favors consistency and the core roster we are seeing may lead the U.S. not just through Rio, but for years to come.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)
DEFENDERS (9): Whitney Engen (Boston Breakers), Jaelene Hinkle (Western New York Flash), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Gina Lewandowski (FC Bayern Munich), Kelley O'Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS (8): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash), Heather O'Reilly (FC Kansas City)
FORWARDS (4): Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado)
