Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn and several more veteran players found themselves left off the U.S. women’s national team roster for the last camp of 2023. But don’t count them out for the 2024 Olympics.

USWNT interim head coach Twila Kilgore talked with each veteran player about the decision to leave them off the roster, she said Monday.

“None of the players that were left off the roster are out of the mix,” Kilgore said. “We want to win and we want to make sure that we bring the best players with us to the Olympics, and this is just one step in making sure that we are making the right decisions moving forward.”

Players who were called into the October camp but not the December camp include Morgan, Dunn, Alyssa Naeher, Sofia Huerta, Becky Sauerbrunn, Ashley Sanchez and Andi Sullivan.

“I did call all the players that were in the previous camp that aren’t on the roster and explain to them why,” Kilgore said. “Those conversations are between coach and player. But I will say that each and every one of them are professionals. They responded as professionals would. They understand that we’re watching everything they do, everything matters.”

The coaching staff knows what all these players “are capable of doing and what their value is,” Kilgore said. The USWNT sees in the upcoming friendlies against China the opportunity to evaluate a wider pool of players.

As the team continues to build toward next year’s Olympics, Kilgore and incoming head coach Emma Hayes wanted to get younger players some looks with the senior national team. But the veterans are still very much in the mix for the Olympics, she said.

“There’s equal opportunity moving forward to make this roster,” she added.

And as for why they called in the players that they did, including newcomers Jenna Nighswonger and Korbin Albert, their strong play at the club level contributed to the decision-making process.

“The leading factor was that these players have been performing really well in their home environments,” she said. “We’ve been consistently watching them and giving an opportunity to both challenge and support in our environment and be able to evaluate them.”

The final U.S. women’s national team roster of 2023 is here, with Rose Lavelle back in the fold for the first time since the World Cup after missing the last couple of camps with a lingering knee injury.

The 28-year-old midfielder missed all but four NWSL regular-season games but returned for the playoffs, helping lead OL Reign to the NWSL championship match. She also scored in the final for the Reign in their 2-1 loss to Gotham FC.

Despite the defeat, Lavelle looked as sharp as ever in the postseason, showcasing precisely what makes her such a huge asset both for the Reign and the USWNT. As the team looks to win its final two friendlies of the year against China, look for Lavelle to make an impact.

The USWNT will host China for two matches, the first on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 3 p.m. ET, and the second on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. ET.

Several veteran players are sidelined for the friendlies, including forward Alex Morgan, defender Becky Sauerbrunn and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Their absences, though, should not raise too many red flags, as resting veteran players for the final camp of the year is a standard practice for the USWNT.

Also absent from the December roster are defenders Crystal Dunn and Sofia Huerta and midfielders Ashley Sanchez and Andi Sullivan.

Interim head coach Twila Kilgore will continue to lead the team in the stead of newly announced head coach Emma Hayes. This is the first roster to be dropped since the USWNT named Emma Hayes as its next head coach. But with Hayes continuing with Chelsea through the conclusion of the Women’s Super League season, Kilgore will remain at the helm until Hayes joins the USWNT in May 2024.

Catarina Macario remains sidelined, and the Chelsea midfielder is not expected to return for club or country before the end of the year, according to Hayes. But another Chelsea player in Mia Fishel is back on the roster, as is San Diego Wave forward Jaedyn Shaw. Both scored their first international goals in the USWNT’s most recent match in San Diego, a 3-0 win against Colombia at the end of October.

New faces on the roster include Korbin Albert, a 20-year-old midfielder for Paris Saint-Germain, and Jenna Nighswonger, the NWSL Rookie of the Year from Gotham FC.

USWNT schedule: December 2023

  • Saturday, Dec. 2 — 3 p.m. ET (TNT, Universo, Peacock)
    • United States vs. China (DRV PNK Stadium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
  • Tuesday, Dec. 5 — 8 p.m. ET (TruTV, Universo, Peacock)
    • United States vs. China (Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas)

USWNT roster: December 2023

Goalkeepers (3)

  • Jane Campbell (Houston Dash)
  • Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit)
  • Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage)

Defenders (7)

  • Alana Cook (OL Reign)
  • Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave)
  • Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars)
  • Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage)
  • Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave)
  • Casey Krueger (Chicago Red Stars
  • M.A. Vignola (Angel City FC)

Midfielders (8)

  • Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain)
  • Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns)
  • Savannah DeMelo (Racing Louisville FC)
  • Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyonnais)
  • Rose Lavelle (OL Reign)
  • Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
  • Jenna Nighswonger (Gotham FC)
  • Emily Sonnett (OL Reign)

Forwards (8)

  • Mia Fishel (Chelsea)
  • Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit)
  • Midge Purce (Gotham FC)
  • Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit)
  • Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave)
  • Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)
  • Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC)
  • Lynn Williams (Gotham FC)

Becky Sauerbrunn is going to test the waters of free agency.

The 38-year-old defender has played for three different teams in her NWSL career, including the Utah Royals, who are set to make their return to the league, and FC Kansas City. But she’s been with Portland since 2020, and she won an a NWSL championship with the team in 2022.

Heading into the offseason, though, she will experience free agency for the first time since it began in 2022 under the league’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement with the NWSL Players Association.

“You know, our PA fought very hard for free agency,” Sauerbrunn said. “And so I absolutely am going to experience what it’s like to be a free agent and then kind of see where it all pans out.”

Of course, Sauerbrunn still could end up sticking with the Thorns. And if she does want to stay in Portland, it could behoove her to wait on signing a new contract until after the expansion draft on Dec. 15, as free agents are not available for selection and therefore do not need to be protected.

Still, Sauerbrunn also recognizes that tides can change, and that’s all just a part of the game, she said after Portland’s NWSL semifinal loss.

“I think we as just being professionals, like we know that the team that you’re with, can always change,” Sauerbrunn said. “And we have been very well aware of that through this year. It’s actually something like that motivated us. The women in this locker room will never be the same after this year.”

The Thorns really took time to appreciate “every single moment that we’ve had together,” Sauerbrunn said. But, the locker room changing in the offseason, is a “sad fact of being professional athletes.”

“Right now it hurts. Yeah, it’s tough,” head coach Mike Norris said. “I think whether you’ve got contracts or not, I think the nature of this business, when you end a season, there’s a very good chance it’s not going to be the same group.

“I think there’s hurt right now. But there’s a lot of pride. I think this group has been through a lot in my time with the club. And particularly in my role here through the offseason, through the season. It’s been bumpy, but the group stuck together. They’re a really resilient group to take pride in the excellence in terms of how they show up every day for the fans every day for each other.”

Sophia Smith, Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan are among the 13 players at the U.S. women’s national team’s October training camp still competing in the NWSL playoffs.

All those players are seeking to strike a balance between focusing on their national team duties and staying sharp for the NWSL semifinals on Nov. 5. Smith, Sauerbrunn and the Portland Thorns will take on Lynn Williams and Gotham FC, while Morgan and the San Diego Wave will face Emily Sonnett and OL Reign.

Other players competing in the postseason include: Sam Coffey, Crystal Dunn and Olivia Moultrie with Portland; Naomi Girma and Jaedyn Shaw with San Diego; Midge Purce with Gotham FC; and Alana Cook and Sofia Huerta with OL Reign.

“You come into camp and it’s so busy because you have so many different meetings — a set piece meeting, a defenders meeting,” Sauerbrunn said after Thursday’s scoreless draw with Colombia. “And so you’re just trying to remember, OK, these are the national team tactics. And then you get back to Portland and it’s like you’ve got to relearn everything that Portland was doing. And so it is really tough.

“You have to be wherever you are and give it everything that you’ve got with the team that you’re with. But it can be really tough because, I’m so excited to be back with Portland as well, but also I really want to beat Colombia in a few days.”

The USWNT will face Colombia again at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday to finish out the two-match friendly series.

The U.S. coaching staff is aware of its players’ dual priorities, and they are “managing minutes with players in different parts of the NWSL season,” interim head coach Twila Kilgore said Thursday.

“The key is just that when they do go in, that they make a difference that they’re asked to make,” Kilgore said.

The U.S. women’s national team has a short amount of time to prepare for the 2024 Olympics – just nine months – and one thing that players have said they know will help is a connection in the locker room.

Speaking after Thursday’s 0-0 draw with Colombia, veteran defender Becky Sauerbrunn has noticed is that the team is at its most successful when everyone is “so connected.”

“You feel like you’ve got options and availability,” she said.

On the flip side, the team struggles when players feel “isolated and alone” on the field.

“When we struggle is when everyone feels isolated and alone and they basically have to pass on the isolation to another player,” she said. “And that player has to do something amazing to break the pressure.”

Instead, she said, players should “be able to use one another to break the pressure.”

Despite the scoreless draw with Colombia, players have been feeling a bit more freedom to find those connections, as witnessed in the previous two matches against South Africa — a 2-0 win and a 3-0 win.

Speaking on the latest episode of “Snacks,” midfielder Savannah DeMelo said the group got comfortable around one another in the September friendlies. But both DeMelo and Lynn Williams agreed that more freedom in play will help grow those connections.

“I just thought in the last two games [against South Africa] — I mean, I only played in the second game — but I just felt like we all played more free, and we had a structure,” DeMelo said. “But then Twila allowed us to do what makes us special within that structure. I even think of you, Lynn — you were able to do what you do that makes you special. And I think it just allowed us to play more freely and confidently.

“So I think moving forward, just allowing us to do that and have consistency, whether it’s who we play with, the training, I think that is going to help us just because of the tight turnaround.”

Williams agreed, noting that there had been more “communication on the field” because players felt like they could go back to doing what makes them great.

“There was so much more communication on the field of like, ‘What can you do to help me?’ ‘How can we solve this problem?’” Williams said. “I don’t know if it was happening at the World Cup as much. I just felt like it was way more free.”

And as the team finds its next head coach and finds some stability, that will hopefully get better and players will continue to find those connections.

“I think at times we feel like we’re on an island,” Sauerbrunn said. “When we’re at our best, there’s people around, we’re bopping, we’re moving. And we can do the isolations when we need because we have amazing outside attacking players and central players. But I really think the connection will bring us back to the success that we’ve had.”

Becky Sauerbrunn has come close to scoring for the U.S. women’s national team, but has never quite found the back of the net. Thus, her 217-game scoreless streak continues – a record for the USWNT.

That doesn’t mean the 38-year-old defender isn’t thinking about it. After all, she nearly scored in her hometown of Saint Louis earlier this year. But if she ever did find the back of the net, she isn’t sure she would be able to appreciate the moment.

“Alana [Cook] and I were like, we can switch every once in a while, so we were taking turns going up there,” she said after Thursday’s 0-0 draw with Colombia. “I mean, one of these days I think it might happen. If it happens, it happens.”

And Sauerbrunn doesn’t have a celebration picked out for if that day comes.

“I think I would faint,” she said. “I don’t think it would be a celebration.”

The U.S. women’s national team remained stuck in its its 2023 World Cup rut in Thursday’s scoreless draw with Colombia.

In its final three World Cup matches, the USWNT scored just one goal, and the team finished the tournament on a 238-minute scoring drought. While two September friendlies against South Africa provided a reprieve, the struggles with finishing returned with a vengeance in the first of two October friendlies against Colombia.

While the USWNT and Colombia each finished with two shots on goal, the USWNT had nine total shot attempts to Colombia’s three. Yet the hosting team failed to deliver in a frustrating contest at America First Field in Sandy, Utah.

Just Women’s Sports staff writer Claire Watkins pointed to a need for “new ideas” for the USWNT — which is a problem that starts with U.S. Soccer. While former head coach Vlatko Andonovski has moved on, the national team is right where he left them, repeating the issues that marked his tenure.

Alex Morgan’s penalty kick chance, which the 34-year-old striker banged off the post in the 44th minute, provided the best scoring opportunity for the USWNT. She sent a follow-up chance sailing over the crossbar.

Sophia Smith returned from an MCL sprain for her first international minutes since the 2023 World Cup. The 23-year-old forward entered as a substitute in the 76th minute, and she had a look at the net late in extra time, but Colombia goalkeeper Natalia Giraldo got a foot on the ball.

Becky Sauerbrunn made her first USWNT appearance since April. The 38-year-old defender missed the World Cup with a foot injury, but she entered at halftime for Naomi Girma and played the entire second half.

Jaedyn Shaw earned her first cap, entering in the 87th minute. The 18-year-old is in her second camp with the USWNT, but while she received a call-up in September, she did not appear in either match against South Africa. Her fellow 18-year-old debutante Olivia Moultrie did not suit up for the match, but she could get her chance at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday, when the U.S. will meet Colombia in a rematch at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.

Becky Sauerbrunn is back with the U.S. women’s national team, and back to wearing her traditional No. 4, which had been on loan to rising star Naomi Girma in her absence.

Girma wore the No. 4 jersey during the World Cup. But on Monday, the 23-year-old center-back said there “wasn’t a fight” when it came to returning the jersey number to Sauerbrunn.

“Becky just takes it back,” she said. “It was no fight. I asked to wear it during the World Cup.”

Sauerbrunn, though, was happy to loan the jersey to her fellow center-back for the tournament. The 38-year-old USWNT veteran missed the World Cup with a foot injury and is making her return to the team at the October training camp.

“She was actually really sweet. I got this wonderful text message from her,” Sauerbrunn said before turning to Girma. “And really, you didn’t need to ask because you needed to wear a number that was between 1 and 23.”

Girma “realized that after” she reached out to Sauerbrunn, she said. Every member of the 23-player world Cup roster must wear a number in that range. Nonetheless, the gesture from Girma, who lived up to the No. 4 jersey while at the World Cup, left Sauebrunn touched.

“It was just like a really sweet gesture and I was like, of course,” she said. “We rent the jersey number. It’s not mine. It’s not Nay’s. This is how it’s supposed to be. You just have it for as long as you can and then it goes to the next person and that’s the cycle of life.”

Even still, Girma wants to make one thing clear: The number is Sauerbrunn’s for now.

“Becky is No. 4,” she said, “to be clear.”

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Naomi Girma sported the No. 4 jersey for the USWNT at the 2023 World Cup. (Robin Alam/Getty Images for USSF)

The U.S. women’s national team is close to having its next head coach.

Veteran defender Becky Sauerbrunn spoke with reporters Monday about the hiring process for the new coach, noting that she’s been kept up to date on the search. Per sporting director Matt Crocker, U.S. Soccer has targeted a December deadline for the hire.

“I have been involved a little bit, but just kind of updated periodically about where they are in the process,” Sauerbrunn said. “I don’t know names of candidates or anything like that, but I was aware of when candidates were being flown in for interviews and that sort of thing.”

Fellow defender Naomi Girma hasn’t been involved with the process at all, she said Monday. Rather, her focus for the September and October camps has been on “coming together as a group and getting a result against two top opponents.”

The USWNT won’t play friendlies in November but will finish the year with two games against China in December. It’s likely that the October camp will be the last camp under interim head coach Twila Kilgore, with the hope that the new coach is available for the December camp.

“We’re getting close and I think that they’ve got a few candidates that they’re very excited about,” Sauerbrunn said. “But for the most part, it’s just been process and knowing where we are in the process.”

Previously, Crocker has been vocal about speaking with “every single player” about what they want to see in the next head coach before making the hire.

“It’s important to listen to the players. There’s a hell of a lot of experience and a hell of a lot of great knowledge within that team, both youth coming through but also from the players who are multiple world champions,” he said in September. “And for me to get the context from them is really, really important.”

Becky Sauerbrunn will not be joining her fellow U.S. women’s national team veterans in retirement any time soon.

Sauerbrunn is back with the USWNT after missing out on what would have been her fourth career World Cup this summer due to a foot injury. And she doesn’t have plans to step away in the near future, she told reporters Monday.

“I would say that my role on the team is the same that it’s been for the last 13 years,” she said. “I’m competing for a spot on the roster, and then I’m competing for minutes on the field. And that has not changed and it won’t change and even with a new coach coming in, who I hope you know, will give me a chance.”

It was inevitable that Sauerbrunn would be asked about her future. After all, the longtime defender is 38 years old and starting a new World Cup cycle, with a new head coach set to join the USWNT in the coming months.

Canada captain Christine Sinclair recently announced her international retirement, while Marta has said she won’t play for Brazil in the Olympics next year.

Several USWNT retirements have come this year as well, with both Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe stepping away from the game. Ali Krieger, whose playing career with the USWNT ended in 2019, is set to retire from soccer upon the conclusion of the NWSL season.

But Sauerbrunn plans to stay, regardless of where she falls on the depth chart.

“If I am not a starter, then I’m going to push the starters to be the best that they can be,” she said. “And if I’m just not on the team, then there it is, but I’m definitely gonna keep competing and hope that things go the right way for me.”