Trinity Rodman Returns Ahead of USA's January Matches vs. Paraguay, Chile

Trinity Rodman is back on the U.S. women's national team with the star forward headlining coach Emma Hayes' 26-player roster for the upcoming January camp. 

The camp, made up entirely of NWSL players, will feature the first matches of 2026 against Paraguay on Jan. 24 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., and against Chile on Jan. 27 at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara.

Rodman, who has been hampered by injuries, made her last national team appearance in April 2025 when she scored the winning goal in a 2-0 victory over Brazil. She returned for the latter part of the NWSL season to help the Washington Spirit reach the championship game against Gotham FC.

Rodman has since been able to take some time to rest her body, and now she’s back in the squad at the start of a pivotal year, which includes qualifying for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

"I haven't seen Trin train or play, all I can say is, I see her having a foot race with [boyfriend] Ben Shelton on the tennis court the other day and she looked, I think, disappointed that she didn't get a bit closer towards the end," Hayes joked, referencing the viral social media video Rodman posted recently.

"But if she gives me the thumbs up, which she has done, to say, ‘I'm good, I'm in a good place,' I have to take that at her word. And when she comes in January, the management is not just of Trin. A lot of these players might only just start building up their preseason training. So it's a tricky one as a manager because we want to be able to put our best teams out. But the reality is, we're gonna have to build minutes into each and every one of them."

Players from overseas will not be part of this camp as it takes place outside a FIFA window. Rodman, who is currently not attached to a club as a free agent, has the most caps (47) and goals (11) of anyone on the roster. Additionally, no players from Gotham FC (which include familiar faces like Rose Lavelle, Jaedyn Shaw and Emily Sonnett) were unavailable for selection due to the club’s participation in the 2026 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup in England at the end of the month.

Forwards Mallory Swanson (Chicago Stars) and Sophia Wilson (Portland Thorns), who alongside Rodman formed the "Triple Espresso" frontline that helped the team win gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, were also not called up. Both those players recently welcomed baby girls.

"I can only pick the players that are available," Hayes said. "So with no European-based players and no Gotham-based players, I think this really is the last window in preparation for '27 where we will see opportunities for so many new players.

"I'm not saying there won't be somebody that is in our pool of players that won't push through for '27, but I feel pretty clear about the pool of players. And I think [the SheBelieves Cup] will be much closer, depending on how fit and well and healthy everyone is, than this one."

Hayes, who gave an unprecedented 16 players their first caps in 2025, has invited four first-time call-ups to this camp. Forwards Maddie Dahlien (Seattle Reign) and Reilyn Turner (Portland Thorns) and midfielders Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage) and Sally Menti (Seattle Reign) will make their senior team camp debut. Notably, Dahlien and Jackson played in all five of the U-23 matches last year and were part of the 2025 Futures Camp. Menti was part of two U-23 camps last year.

Hayes said there will be "ample playing time for everybody" being that it's the beginning of the year and players are just at the start of their respective preseasons. She said in the upcoming matches that five players will end up playing 90 minutes, but she plans to make six substitutions in both games so that everyone in the squad can get a good look.

As was the case a year ago, there will be a development camp running concurrently with the senior team camp. It will feature players born between 2003-08, creating opportunities for younger players to advance along the pathway to the USWNT one day.

Perfect examples of this include players like Jordyn Bugg, Gisele Thompson, Claire Hutton, Jameese Joseph, Avery Patterson, Jackson, Dahlien and Turner, who participated in the 2025 Futures Camp and are now part of the senior team roster. 

This is a young group, with an average age of 24.1 and an average of 6.6 caps per player. Taking it a step further, if you don’t include Rodman or Croix Bethune (who was part of the gold medal winning team at the Olympics), the roster averages five caps per player.

Despite the inexperience, Hayes did not rule out some of those newer and younger players "knocking on the door" for the World Cup. She said that as the year goes on, she will whittle down the player pool and start to get choosy about which players make rosters in anticipation for World Cup qualifying, which begins in November. That will start to become clearer around the SheBelieves Cup, Hayes said.

"I will pick the strongest possible rosters going from February onward that I believe are the group of players that are going to be competing for that group in November-December time," Hayes said.

Ultimately, everything Hayes does moving forward is about the 2027 World Cup.

"That's what all of our thoughts are on," Hayes said. "Qualifying for the World Cup. Like, it will be locking in, it will be really, really honing in on ensuring that our game is equipped to be able to qualify for the World Cup."

U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position (Club; Caps/Goals)

GOALKEEPERS (3): Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC; 6) Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals; 4), Jordan Silkowitz (Bay FC; 0)

DEFENDERS (8): Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign FC; 5/0), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash; 9/1), Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current; 1/1), Tara Rudd (Washington Spirit; 9/0), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride; 7/0), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; 4/0), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave FC; 2/0), Kate Wiesner (Washington Spirit; 2/0)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit; 5/0), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit; 3/0), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current; 11/1), Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage; 0/0), Lo’eau LaBonta (Kansas City Current; 4/0), Sally Menti (Seattle Reign FC; 0/0), Sam Meza (Seattle Reign FC; 2/0), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC; 11/5)

FORWARDS (7): Maddie Dahlien (Seattle Reign FC; 0/0), Jameese Joseph (Chicago Stars FC; 1/0), Trinity Rodman (Unattached; 47/11), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash; 15/2), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 12/4), Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current; 13/4), Reilyn Turner (Portland Thorns FC; 0/0)

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.