American women’s national football team veterans Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe headline the experienced 18-player list for the Tokyo Summer Games.
Lloyd and Tobin Heath are on their way to the Olympics for the fourth time, while Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and Kelley O’Hara will be three times Olympians.
Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Julie Ertz, Christen Press and Alyssa Naeher are in the squad for the second time.
Seventeen of the players were part of the 2019 squad that won the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USA wants to be the first women’s team to win a gold medal immediately after winning the World Cup.
“It’s been a long process to get to this point, longer than anyone thought it would be, but we gathered a lot of information about the players over the last year and a half in training, in their club matches and in international games and we ‘are convinced that we have chosen the team that has the best chance of success in Japan, says USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski in a statement.
The first Olympians on the list are Abby Dahlkemper, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett, Samantha Mewis, Rose Lavelle, Adrianna Franch and Kristie Mewis.
Lloyd, 39, will also become America’s oldest female Olympic soccer player ever. She scored the winning goals for Stars and Stripes at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Four deputies will also travel to Tokyo: Lynn Williams, Catarina Macario, Casey Krueger and Jane Campbell.
Team USA opens group games against Sweden on July 21, followed by matches with New Zealand (July 24) and Australia (July 27).
– Field level media
Source: sn.dk