Whittling down a World Cup roster to 23 players can be difficult, particularly if you are head coach of the U.S. women’s national team and have a plethora of talent to choose from.

USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski will announce his choices next week, and while some players have solidified their spots, others remain on the bubble. Which players are fighting for a trip to Australia and New Zealand?

Goalkeepers: AD Franch, Aubrey Kingsbury

Kingsbury has been playing lights out to begin the season. Franch, on the other hand, has seen limited appearances on the field, and has struggled when she has appeared for the Kansas City Current.

And while Alyssa Naeher is a staple for the USWNT, she has given up nine goals in her last two outings for the Red Stars, so Andonovski may want to stick with the backup who has the better recent résumé.

Defenders: Sofia Huerta, Tierna Davidson, Kelley O’Hara, Casey Krueger

Sofia Huerta had a great game last weekend against Kansas City, burying a penalty kick to give OL Reign the win. She was named Player of the Match and earned a nomination for NWSL Player of the Week. A former attacker turned right-back, her 35 regular-season goals rank 17th in NWSL history, so she could bring an additional scoring presence to a USWNT squad that has had a defender score in each of its last two friendlies. But she’s going up against O’Hara and Krueger, with each bringing a different element to the table — and while O’Hara has been struggling to stay healthy, Krueger’s versatility could give her the nod.

Davidson is another bubble player who faces stiff competition to make the final 23. At center-back, she is likely competing with OL Reign’s Emily Sonnett. In Chicago, Davidson has struggled – as has the rest of the Red Star defense – and was out before that with an ACL tear. She was the youngest player on the roster at the 2019 World Cup, but she could find herself on the outside looking in this time around.

Midfielders: Taylor Kornieck, Savannah DeMelo

Julie Ertz’s return to the USWNT lineup has meant one less spot on the USWNT roster because, let’s face it, there’s no way Ertz is being left at home. Kornieck has had solid USWNT minutes, and at 6-1 she is the tallest player the USWNT has to go up against opposition. Before sustaining an abdominal injury, Kornieck was leading the NWSL in aerials won. She’s already scored once this year for the USWNT, one of just a few players to do so, and would be a solid bench option for Andonovski.

DeMelo, meanwhile, has had an outstanding start to her NWSL season and week after week continues to make her case for the USWNT roster. She scored in four of five appearances to start the season and forced an own goal against Chicago. In May, she was named the NWSL’s Player of the Month. If NWSL play really does matter that much to Andonovski, then he’ll take DeMelo down under.

Forwards: Jaedyn Shaw, Midge Purce

If Andonovski is considering young star Alyssa Thompson for a roster spot, he should also be considering Shaw. Shaw has been a force for San Diego this season, not just as the team’s second-leading scorer but also as a passer. While her consistency needs some work, she has two seasons of professional experience under her belt that could be helpful on the world’s biggest stage.

Purce, meanwhile, has had a bumpy road with the USWNT, and a recent hip injury has kept her from NWSL play. While Purce has the talent to help the USWNT, her lack of recent playing time means she could get left at home.

ST. LOUIS — The U.S. closed out their final international break before naming the 2023 World Cup roster with a cagey 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday, thanks to a lone goal from defender Alana Cook.

After the match, USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski said he used the game as an opportunity for individual evaluations, estimating he has 10-12 players vying for six to seven open roles. The team has decisions to make on the backline and in the midfield, while simultaneously getting used to life without star striker Mallory Swanson, who tore the patella tendon in her left knee on Saturday.

In Tuesday’s game, the USWNT looked like a team that still has several systemic issues to work out. But as players completed their final auditions for the trip to New Zealand with the reigning world champions, a few individuals stepped up and stood out.

Alyssa Thompson

Thompson earned her first USWNT start and 90-minute international match on Tuesday, joining the team last minute as a replacement for Swanson. Thompson’s feel for the game was apparent from the opening whistle, as her willingness to cover an extensive amount of ground on defense and tenacity in the attack kept opportunities alive.

The frontline of Thompson, Sophia Smith and Alex Morgan prioritized positional fluidity. The two wingers would switch sides based on the flow of the game and defensive assignments, and you would not have known from watching the first half that Thompson had not been in the team’s plans all along.

Tuesday was only Thompson’s third cap with the U.S., and while the Angel City forward can become more confident on the ball in the final third, the potential for the 18-year-old to become a real contributor at this summer’s World Cup was obvious. In what could be a sudden shift for the young striker, she could have proven she’s ready for the big stage sooner than expected.

“I feel like you have to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready, you know,” Thompson said after the game. “So I’ve just always been working hard and continuing in my pro environment, just continuing to develop.”

Tierna Davidson

Davidson returned to the U.S. this month for the first time in over a year, subbing on for Becky Sauerbrunn in the 29th minute. Despite the time she spent away from the team as she rehabbed an ACL injury suffered last March, Davidson showed what skills she brings to the U.S. backline when she’s available and healthy.

Davidson’s speed from a central position is underrated. The 24-year-old has the ability to drift into wide spaces to cover for the team’s very aggressive outside-back positioning without giving up too much of a gap behind the defensive midfield. She’s also one of the best in the U.S. player pool at long diagonal passing while the team is in possession. That made a difference as the USWNT tried to overcome Ireland’s compact, organized midfield and take advantage of their speed in the attack.

“I think it’s a tough challenge to play against blocks like that,” said Davidson’s center-back partner, Alana Cook. “Something that we looked at from last game is, can we kind of open them up with that longer ball? And having Tierna be able to hit it on one side and me be able to hit it on the other, I think it’s just so helpful.”

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Julie Ertz played in her first two USWNT games this week since 2021. (John Todd/USSF/Getty Images

Julie Ertz

In her second game since returning to the USWNT after two years away from the sport, Ertz understandably looked more fatigued. Ertz is a vocal presence on the field who instructs the players in front of her where to slot into spaces left open by the opposition’s defense, and attempts forward passes that diversify the U.S. attack when it becomes stagnant.

Ertz’s head is in the game and her presence seems to calm the players around her. The next step for the two-time world champion is regaining her defensive instincts and touch on the ball. Ireland intentionally made life difficult for the U.S. midfield over the course of two matches. They would overload the middle third to force mismatching player numbers and disrupt forward ball movement, which they’d then turn into quick switches in the other direction.

The 30-year-old midfielder could see those switches happening around her but was occasionally a step too slow to stop them. She trusts that type of quickness will come with time.

“I’m not messing around,” she said after the game, adding that she’ll likely finalize her NWSL club decision in the next few days. “​​I know where I want to be, and I know where the expectation is to be in order to be at my best just to be in the selection for the World Cup roster.”

Casey Krueger

Perhaps the most obvious auditions on Tuesday came at the outside-back position, where three different players got looks with a bit of positional shifting. Sofia Huerta began the match at right back, while Kelley O’Hara started on the left. O’Hara returned to the U.S. after a lingering hip injury kept her off the field for most of the latter half of 2022.

O’Hara looked locked in during the first half, but she was matched in intensity by Casey Krueger, who took over the role in the second half. Krueger returned to the team after giving birth to her son last July, and she and O’Hara each showcased a level of natural defending that the U.S. fullback position has missed in recent months.

Krueger looked both focused and fit, pushing the USWNT forward in attack while covering a lot of ground on defense. She forced Ireland into multiple mistakes, most notably drawing a yellow card as she turned toward goal in attacking transition late in the match. Krueger’s ability to slot in a line-breaking pass is underrated, sometimes even catching her teammates off guard in her first game back on the international stage.

Krueger and O’Hara could make the outside-back choices very difficult for Andonovski. As it stands, the head coach’s roster decisions on defense could be some of the most controversial of the World Cup cycle.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

Injuries and extended absences have taken a toll on the U.S. women’s national team as the reigning world champions prepare for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

As head coach Vlatko Andonovski continues to evaluate players before naming a final roster next summer, we take a look at recent USWNT mainstays on the outside looking in and where they stand in the run-up to the biggest tournament in women’s soccer. Next up: Tierna Davidson.

Position: Defender
Total caps: 48
Most recent USWNT appearance: Feb. 23, 2022 vs. Iceland (SheBelieves Cup)

What is her track record with the USWNT?

The defender played a full 90 minutes in each of her first three matches for the USWNT en route to the 2018 SheBelieves Cup title.

While Davidson missed the Concacaf W Championship later that year with a broken ankle, she returned to the USWNT in 2019. At 20 years old, she became the youngest player on the U.S. roster at the 2019 World Cup.

Davidson appeared in just one World Cup game, a group-stage match against Chile, but she made her mark with two assists in the 3-0 win. By the 2021 Olympics, she’d become a standard presence in the starting lineup.

What is keeping her off the roster?

The 24-year-old tore her ACL in March 2022 during a training session for the Chicago Red Stars.

She had started all 17 games she played for the Red Stars during the 2021 season, in which the team made a run to the NWSL final, but played just one game in the preseason Challenge Cup in 2022 before going down with the injury.

When will she be back?

Davidson is “very close” to returning, Andonovski said when announcing the roster for the January friendlies against New Zealand.

The coach provided another update ahead of the first match against the Football Ferns, saying Davidson is “already in full training” and should be back in February — “if we decide to, obviously, call her up.”

In her absence, Alana Cook and Naomi Girma have stepped up as capable center backs for the USWNT. So the decision of which players to include on the World Cup roster could be a tough one for Andonovski.

Cook appears to have locked up the starting position alongside captain Becky Sauerbrunn, with Girma cycling in as a reliable substitute in the back. Davidson, however, has the advantage of major tournament experience after being paired with Sauerbrunn at the Tokyo Olympics.

What other players are missing from the USWNT roster?

Tierna Davidson is training in Germany ahead of the 2023 NWSL season.

The Chicago Red Stars and USWNT defender appeared in photos posted by Vfl Wolfsburg on Nov. 22. While the Red Stars were unable to provide additional information, Davidson’s appearance was confirmed by German newspaper WAZ.

It was later confirmed by the newspaper that Davidson is training as a guest until the club’s winter break and will not sign with the team.

Davidson is another key piece of the USWNT lineup that has been missing due to injury this year. She tore her ACL during a training session in April and missed out on the NWSL season.. USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski said in October that the team expected her to be back “in full” in November.

“She is looking really good,” he said. “We expect her to be back in full in the middle of November.”

Her appearance in Germany could be a part of the club’s strategic alliance with Wolfsburg. In September, the two clubs announced their collaboration, which seeks to help the two clubs “expand their mark on the game” both within and outside of their respective leagues.

Further details of the partnership were not released.

The defender is still under contract with the Red Stars for the 2023 season, having been part of the 18-player roster named by the team on Nov. 16. Her contract will be up after the 2023 season.

Chicago Red Stars defender Tierna Davidson will miss the remainder of the NWSL season after suffering a torn ACL during training last week.

The NWSL regular season is slated to begin April 29. With two games underway in the NWSL Challenge Cup, the Red Stars have one win and one loss. The defender played all 90 minutes of the first Challenge Cup game, a 3-1 win over the Houston Dash.

The 23-year-old started all 17 games for the Red Stars last season. She’s continued to improve every season since being drafted No. 1 overall by Chicago in the 2019 NWSL College Draft.

Davidson is also a member of the U.S. women’s national team, providing depth to the backfield through 48 appearances. Through her appearances, Davidson has notched seven assists and scored one goal. Her absence will leave a hole in the upcoming qualifying for the 2023 World Cup.

The Red Stars will need to fill holes defensively with the loss of Davidson. Sarah Gorden was traded to Angel City in the offseason while Casey Krueger is out on maternity leave. With Morgan Gautrat out with a left calf injury and Sarah Woldmoe also on maternity leave, the loss of Davidson leaves the Red Stars with limited options for her replacement.

Davidson is the third NWSL player to fall victim to a knee injury before the start of the regular season after Gorden suffered an injury during preseason and Orlando Pride midfielder Marta suffered an injury to a knee ligament during practice last week.

For USWNT star Tierna Davidson, coming out wasn’t that big of a deal. 

Having an aunt who has a partner certainly helped, as having a girlfriend wasn’t something that needed explaining. It was just normal. 

“That helped me in just not feeling like what I was was different,” Davidson explains on the most recent episode of Snacks. “It was just like, you’re with who you’re with and that’s it. I think that was a big help in me not making a big deal out of it.” 

“That just makes it easier. That makes you feel less awkward and less unique, which you don’t want to feel unique in that way sometimes.”

“I love that,” co-host Lynn Williams says. “I think that is how it should be. Like, I didn’t have to come out as straight, so why does anybody else have to come out? We should just be who we are.”

At about 46 minutes in, Davidson, Williams and Sam Mewis get to talking about all of the coverage surrounding LGBTQ people coming out. When looking at all of the magazines and articles written about celebrities with their coming out stories, Davidson says she hopes that eventually those stories will go away, as hopefully someday people won’t have to have a special story about it.

“It’s really nice to have a coming out story that is not very fun, or not very exciting,” she said. “That’s the best kind of coming out story because it means that whoever you’re coming out to or wherever you live, your environment, it’s normal enough that you don’t need to make a big deal out of it.”

Earlier on in the podcast, the three discuss why there is still so much apprehension about coming out.

“Even though we are in this era where it is widely accepted, especially within our age group, there is still a lot of apprehension and nerves around doing that,” Davidson said. “So I think that, I know a lot of people that are now out but weren’t out when I first knew them and probably a lot of people who are still on that journey.”

“I think we as humans have this fear of anything that is different than us,” Mewis adds. “And so I think that when, as kids, we’re intimidated by something or something feels foreign we push it away.”

“Maybe it’s just that little bit of something that makes people different, alienates them to others and so we push it away and try to label it as something.”

“It’s the worst thing in the world to be different when you’re in middle school or high school,” Davidson says. “All you want to do is fit in and be normal.”

Listen to the rest of the conversation and the full podcast here.