USWNT is back part deux: what era is this?

A somewhat lengthy rumination on where the new era begins & the personnel in camp this September

Time moves on, but is it ‘new’?

As Lynn Williams collected the first goal against South Africa last Thursday (a header from Ertz’s header, directed into play by Lindsey Horan), I noted on the app previously known as Twitter that very likely, we could all live with NWSL’s goal-scoring legend Lynn collecting the first goal of a new era. 

“What makes this a 'new’ era?” I was asked. 

A fair question — one which noted that the names before us in Ohio were more or less those that lost to Sweden last month.  

It’s a point worth pondering, and so:

Of limbo and personnel

With FIFA’s 23-player World Cup roster no longer a numerical constraint (at least outside of match day squads), interim manager Twila Kilgore called 27 players into training camp for September’s friendlies. 

With just Sophia Smith and Kristie Mewis (initially) listed as injured, that list accounted for 21 of the 23 World Cup players. 

There were (initially) six new additions, with four familiar names who’d fallen short of the World Cup roster and two uncapped players, including the long-clamored for Liga MX Femenil golden boot winner turned Chelsea resident, Mia Fishel, and US Soccer’s 2022 Young Player of the Year, Jaedyn Shaw.  

However marginal the total number of new arrivals may have initially seemed, let us remember to rejoice in the knowledge that the heights of individual talent filtering into the USWNT’s ranks remains formidable, capable, constant. 

Mia Fishel, first of all, scored 38 goals in 48 league appearances with Tigres across two years before departing Liga MX Femenil this summer. Now accrued across the pond by the astute football eye of Chelsea’s manager Emma Hayes (who hopes to use her to ease demands on Sam Kerr) Fishel is well-positioned to grow her game at one of the world’s top clubs, guided by one of the world’s top managers.

According to Hayes, Fishel is ready for the top-competition of WSL: “She is a real quick learner, she is like a sponge. She just wants to take everything in all the time.” 

In fact as I type this, Fishel just debuted at Stamford Bridge in a starting role (Sam Kerr still recovering from the World Cup), and snagged her first Chelsea goal in the 28th minute.

As for 18-year-old Jaedyn Shaw of Frisco, Texas: the young talent reliably sets up goals like this one in Portland last night. (And she very nearly scored a goal of her own off this free-kick later on).

Maneuvering through various starting roles (midfield or further up) for NWSL’s top-ranked San Diego Wave, Shaw has 5 goals and 3 assists with two games to play in the regular season. According to Fbref, Shaw’s creative force places her in the 92nd percentile for shot-creating actions across the top 9 women’s competitions worldwide, with an average of 4.21 per 90. Notably, Shaw is a two-way player with an impressive defensive presence as well, landing in the 99th percentile across the world’s top-nine competitions for both tackles and interceptions, and in the 97th percentile for blocks. 

Beyond the high potential of those two uncapped arrivals, let us also recall  that the USA’s World Cup roster traveled down under equipped with some measure of the ‘next era’ already among them, whether or not they played (at all, or much). 

The World Cup roster was a 23-person spread of multiple generations, with ten players in their 30’s, 12 in their 20’s, and Alyssa Thompson the sole teenager.

If we were to crudely draw the lines of the USWNT’s ‘next generation’ around those 24 and younger, that highlights five members of the squad: Ashley Sanchez (24), Naomi Girma (23), Sophia Smith (22 at the World Cup), Trinity Rodman (21), and Alyssa Thompson (18). 

Girma played every minute as a center back. Smith started every match on the wing and played 361 of 390 minutes. Rodman started three of four matches on the opposite wing, totaling 237 minutes. Thompson subbed in twice on the wing, for a combined sixteen minutes. Ashley Sanchez did not play. 

Already, Girma, Rodman and Smith have wedged themselves into key roles as marquee names of the next era, with notable World Cup experience under their belt.

For a World Cup that felt, from a USWNT perspective, to be played in a strange state of limbo, the earliest signs of time moving on arrived in the aforementioned laying claim to their starting roles. 

As for Thompson and Sanchez (as well as the newly arrived Fishel and Shaw, alongside injured players not present, notably Catarina Macario) the next era points toward their more integrated involvement as we move toward the Olympics, next summer. 

It has to be said though too: the next era will and should include a healthy smattering of names we’ve known for some time. We’re not letting Rose Lavelle out of our sights anytime soon. 

Speaking of Rose Lavelle… A few days after the roster drop, both Kelley O’Hara and Rose Lavelle were ruled out due to lingering injury. 

With the World Cup roster then reduced from 21 to 19 available players (though Lavelle did travel to camp), two new names were added. That includes an additional uncapped name in Angel City FC’s reliable defender of Cincinnati ilk, M.A. Vignola. 

And so of the final September roster, it’s largely true that this summer’s squad was present. Four of the World Cup players were left off but only due to injury. 

US Soccer’s Sporting Director Matt Crocker acknowledged the continuity of roster (in some part due to managerial limbo) when it dropped: 

“We're looking forward to having the opportunity to honor the players who have decided to retire but also know these games are valuable as the first steps towards Paris. Once the new head coach comes in, that individual will assess the player pool and make roster decisions that will be focused on building a team for the future."

That being said, we were given breadcrumbs of evolution at the edge:

Eight of the 27 called in to face South Africa were absent for this summer’s grand FIFA event. Three of those fresh eight names arrived uncapped (Fishel! Shaw! Vignola!). That means approximately 30% of September’s roster were non-World Cup participants, and 11% were uncapped, gloriously exciting new names. 

Girma, Lavelle, Ertz and Smith training in Melbourne. Photo taken by me the day before the loss to Sweden

Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz

Now, headlining this September window of course was the retirement of beloved American soccer legends Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz. 

I’ll elaborate on their individual accomplishments and thematic legacy on this team in a subsequent post. But for now what I have to say is that their dual-retirement has an enormous impact on defining the era that we are in (or, are no longer in) as well as just the simple logistics of who is starting in this limbo moment, or subbing in. 

Megan Rapinoe gives one last pregame speech in her farewell match. Mia Fishel next to her, on the right.

And so what of the starting XI then? 

Mild rotation crept into a September XI held otherwise firm to its World Cup foundations. 

Starting XI in Cincinnati, for Rose Lavelle’s farewell:

Starting XI in Chicago, for Megan Rapinoe’s farewell match:

Notable is the continuation of Emily Sonnett in both XI’s against South Africa, after she made a surprise late starting appearance (to great effect) against Sweden. Kilgore and players alike noted to the press this month that continuing what went right against Sweden (their most convincing performance despite the loss) is a focus as they move on. Sonnett in the XI is clearly among those things. 

For comparison, here’s the starting XI that faced Sweden in Melbourne, which featured notable shifts from the group stage— including Sonnet’s addition and the 4231 formation:

Elsewhere, against South Africa, small shuffles arrived in the first or second match, but things looked more or less the same. 

Casey Murphy replaced Naeher as keeper in the second affair. Murphy (who was untested in the friendly) is currently leading the NWSL with seven clean sheets (tied for first). She also collected the 2023 Challenge Cup Trophy with North Carolina Courage just a week before coming to camp. 

At center back, both Alana Cook and Tierna Davidson emerged from the abyss to pair alongside the assured defensive lynchpin of the future, Naomi Girma. Girma paired with Ertz during the World Cup and the two never left the pitch (playing every single minute alongside only Alyssa Naeher and Andi Sullivan). 

And so while Cook was present down under, she never appeared on the stage. As for 2019 World Cup veteran and US Soccer’s 2018 Young Player of the Year, Tierna Davidson, her rising star was paused by an ACL injury. And while she’d recovered and returned before the World Cup, her return to full ability has been saved for right now.  

Krueger arrived at right back for a match, replacing Fox. 

Sullivan, Sonnett and Horan appear to be the midfield absent the now-retired Ertz (who was a center back in this World Cup, but a previously world class defensive midfielder of deserved fame) and with an injured Lavelle. 

Alex Morgan appeared defiantly as the striker in both games, though she entered camp absent any recent run of goals. (She broke that spell last evening in Portland, scoring the second goal for the first-placed Wave). 

Morgan has been clear she doesn’t intend to “hang up the boots” anytime soon. But her ineffective reign as striker in this past World Cup will have myriad challengers as time moves on. 

Some of those challengers include the still-injured Catarina Macario, who moved from Lyon to Chelsea this summer. Ashley Hatch is back in camp after missing the final World Cup roster, and could challenge for more minutes. And of course Mia Fishel will be one to watch. Fishel replaced Morgan in Chicago in the 65th minute, and just scored her first goal for Chelsea today at Stamford Bridge. 

Either side of Morgan on the wings this September: a rotation of Rodman, Williams, and a retiring Rapinoe. 

At the helm? 

Twila Kilgore, until further notice. 

Perhaps the biggest sign of an era moving on is the replacement of the last cycle’s manager. Vlatko Andonovski resigned from his role after this summer’s World Cup, having steered this storied ship into historically early defeat. 

Kilgore (Vlatko’s former assistant) provides continuity while we await a permanent appointment. And while that sense of continuity is in some sense a good thing, it also means the program will remain in limbo until a new name is at the helm. 

According to Matt Crocker, that as-of-yet unnamed manager is on track to be in place by winter: 

“We are on track to be in a position to have the head coach in place ready to support the team from early December.” 

So is this an ‘era’? And is it new?

Yes, but its contours remain unshaped and for now, we approach the new age still wading through limbo and perhaps a bit haunted by the past. 

«.. to be continued..»