In the past seven months, the U.S. women’s national team roster has undergone a transformation.

For two friendlies against Australia in November, head coach Vlatko Andonovski named a 22-player roster that had 12 players with 10 caps or fewer. The following three camps featured many of the same players. Now, the new look could be the norm.

As the USWNT moves into the 2023 FIFA World Cup era with the Concacaf World Cup Qualifiers approaching in July, it’s time to get serious about the future of the USWNT roster.

The squad plays a pair of friendlies against Colombia on June 25 and 28, followed by the qualifying tournament a week later. The next roster, to be announced Monday morning, will be the most important one since the team that won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year. There is a chance the roster for the two friendlies will be different from the Concacaf squad, but by one or two players at most.

Fifty-nine players were named to the preliminary Concacaf roster on Wednesday. Andonovski has to cut that number to 23 for qualifiers.

It takes time for a team to build chemistry. With that in mind, it’s unlikely Andonovski will stray far from the players he’s called in throughout the last year. Here are the 23 players I think Andonovski will take to Concacaf World Cup Qualifying.

Forwards (7): Mallory Pugh, Sophia Smith, Ashley Hatch, Midge Purce, Alex Morgan, Christen Press, Trinity Rodman

Midfielders (6): Andi Sullivan, Rose Lavelle, Ashley Sanchez, Kristie Mewis, Lindsey Horan, Jaelin Howell

Defenders (7): Sofia Huerta, Alana Cook, Emily Fox, Naomi Girma, Kelley O’Hara, Emily Sonnett, Becky Sauerbrunn

Goalkeepers (3): Casey Murphy, Alyssa Naeher, Jane Campbell

Forwards

Andonovski somehow needs to evaluate the bottomless depth of the USWNT forwards, especially now that Alex Morgan and Christen Press are making strong cases for inclusion with their play in the NWSL.

To start, Mallory Pugh and Sophia Smith are the two most obvious locks. Both players excel on the dribble and create big chances with their playmaking abilities. Add in the fact that Pugh leads the Chicago Red Stars with four goals and Smith is the Portland Thorns’ top goal scorer with three, and it’s impossible to think of any reasons why they wouldn’t be chosen for the USWNT’s Concacaf roster. Catarina Macario would have completed the trio up top, but she announced last week that she tore her ACL in Olympiuqe Lyon’s final match of the season.

Ashley Hatch seems to find the net every time she steps onto the field for the national team, including scoring the third-fastest goal in team history during her first start in November. The reigning NWSL Golden Boot winner has scored four goals in eight appearances for the USWNT and could be a good bench option for Andonovski when the team needs offense.

Midge Purce has been an impactful game-changer as an all-round player with a background in defending. The 26-year-old hasn’t missed a call-up opportunity in the last seven months, so it would be surprising to see her left off the roster now.

Morgan and Press are on the verge of a comeback. Morgan hasn’t been on the roster since September and Press since the Olympics last August, but both veterans have been proving their dominance on their club teams through the first few months of the NWSL season. Morgan leads the league in scoring with nine goals in nine games for the San Diego Wave, and Press has been a threat on Angel City FC’s frontline all season.

Press’ status for the roster is uncertain after she appeared to hurt her knee and was helped off the field in the 64th minute of Angel City’s win over Racing Louisville on Saturday. The club has yet to give an official prognosis, but whatever information Andonovski gets between now and Monday’s roster announcement could affect Press’ inclusion.

8 goals. 7 games. @alexmorgan13 is on another level this year. pic.twitter.com/ifB5z5SQoe

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) June 6, 2022

It’s also time for Trinity Rodman to get more experience with the USWNT. The 2021 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year attended her first senior national camp in January and earned her first cap at the SheBelieves Cup in February. The highest-paid player in the NWSL, Rodman will undoubtedly be a top candidate for the 2023 World Cup roster. Before then, the Concacaf tournament is the best way for her to get used to the high-stakes environment.

Midfielders

Playing in the 10, Rose Lavelle is the anchor of the USWNT’s midfield. Earning a spot on the NWSL’s May Best XI for her play with OL Reign, the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup hero isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Rising star and fellow attacking midfielder Ashley Sanchez also has a knack for creativity. With just seven caps, Sanchez has adjusted to the national team quickly, showing off fancy footwork and confidence on the ball.

Rose Lavelle really said "fine i'll do it myself" and *almost* puts @OLReign ahead. 👀 pic.twitter.com/w74UHqfWNL

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) May 29, 2022

Andonovski values Lindsey Horan as a leader for this young team and a stable presence in the center of the park. Another reliable contributor, Andi Sullivan helps set the pace from the six position, though she’s recently appeared on the Washington Spirit’s injury list for her quad.

Jaelin Howell, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft, gives the USWNT a double-sided six who’s had a fair amount of exposure to the environment in the last year. In just her fifth international appearance in April, she scored her first goal against Uzbekistan.

Typically subbed in to be a game-changer, Kristie Mewis has become a consistent call-up since Andonovski took over as coach at the end of 2019.

Defenders

Kelley O’Hara, Emily Fox and Sofia Huerta are all exceptional in contributing to the attack. Huerta is arguably the best at crossing balls into the box, and Fox has the ability to dribble comfortably through multiple opponents out of the back. O’Hara has assumed a larger leadership role in the past year, holding the team to its high standard of a competitive, winning culture.

Emily Sonnett brings a high level of intensity to the backline. She’s mostly played on the outside for the USWNT, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Andonovski to try her at center back, where she thrives with the Washington Spirit.

The NWSL’s most recent Rookie of the Month, Naomi Girma, has stood out on the Wave’s backline with nifty, effortless-looking tackles and an impressive 85 percent passing success rate. She’ll have to compete for a starting spot with Becky Sauerbrunn, the most fearless player on the team, and NWSL May Best XI member Alana Cook, a world-class defender with similar composure.

👀 Recapping Girma's Huge Month 👀

Presented by @ally @naomi_girma | @sandiegowavefc pic.twitter.com/GnQxVnpjOv

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 9, 2022

Goalkeepers

Casey Murphy and veteran Alyssa Naeher lead the USWNT’s deep goalkeeping pool.

Murphy wasn’t available for the April friendlies due to injury, but she’s made a strong case with the national team, starting with her first cap in November. In a 3-0 shutout over Australia, she made eight saves to earn Player of the Match honors and has been formidable ever since.

Naeher has been the most consistent veteran call-up since the new year and won’t be going anywhere after her jaw-dropping performances for the Red Stars.

Fellow veteran Jane Campbell has recorded four clean sheets in seven games for the Houston Dash. Thanks to her 86.4 percent success rate on saves, the Dash have allowed an NWSL-best three goals so far this season.

Alyssa Naeher is not from this planet! HOW?! #MKOT pic.twitter.com/qM5Ak4IpFj

— Red Stars Report (@RedStarsReport) June 9, 2022

Jessa Braun is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering the NWSL and USWNT. Follow her on Twitter @jessabraun.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.