Mallory Swanson and Becky Sauerbrunn have been out with injuries since before the 2023 World Cup, but both players showed up at the U.S. women’s national team’s September training camp ahead of Megan Rapinoe’s final match.
Rapinoe is making her last USWNT appearance at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday at Chicago’s Soldier Field in an international friendly against South Africa. The 38-year-old forward is retiring from professional soccer at the end of the NWSL season.
Swanson, who tore the patellar tendon in her left knee in April, posted a video of herself running on grass for the first time since her injury in late August. Still, while the Chicago Red Stars forward is unlikely to make a return before the end of the NWSL season, she showed up for USWNT training in Chicago before Rapinoe’s finale.
So did Sauerbrunn, who has spent her entire USWNT career playing alongside Rapinoe. The 38-year-old defender made her debut in 2008, two years after Rapinoe, and they played together at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 World Cup tournaments. Sauerbrunn had to miss the 2023 tournament due to a foot injury.
While Swanson nor Sauerbrunn are still recovering, and neither made the roster for the September training camp, they came together to honor their retiring teammate.
💙❤️ @mPinoe ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/DV4nWDCpQZ
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) September 23, 2023