United States women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has his sights set on the future, filling the roster for the SheBelieves Cup with young players and budding talents. Eleven of the 23 players who will take the field when the U.S. opens the tournament against the Czech Republic on Thursday night have 10 caps or fewer.

The coach is intent on giving opportunities to players with the potential to make the USWNT’s World Cup qualifying roster this summer.

“This a group we want to see more of in camp,” Andonovski said. “We want to give them a chance to be in our system and we want to give ourselves a chance to evaluate them, not just in camp but also in camp with games.”

Andonovski will have much to evaluate in the attacking third, in particular. Ashley Hatch, 26, started to make her case in Australia in November when she scored two goals in two games against the Matildas. She buried the first one just 24 seconds into the USWNT’s opening match, making it the third-fastest goal in team history. At the SheBelieves Cup, 26-year-old Midge Purce and 21-year-old Sophia Smith will also look to prove themselves up top.

“It really challenges you,” veteran midfielder Andi Sullivan said of Andonovski’s decision to bring in young talent. “I think he’s just been consistent in what he’s looking for from people here, people in the league, and I think just constantly raising the level no matter where you are and who you are, and that there’s always an opportunity.”

I N C O M I N G 💥

First game of 2022 coming up quick! pic.twitter.com/zBnkU6F9pP

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) February 16, 2022

While Andonovski originally left the three most inexperienced players — Trinity Rodman, Jaelin Howell and Naomi Girma — off of the roster following January camp, he added Rodman and Howell after veterans Lindsey Horan and Abby Dahlkemper were ruled out due to injuries.

It’s been clear that Andonovski values NWSL performances. Look no further than the fact that seven players on the USWNT’s SheBelieves Cup roster come from the reigning champion Washington Spirit.

The roster’s readiness

Andonovski said Wednesday that, while most players are not ready to play all three 90-minute games of the round-robin tournament, Catarina Macario is in peak shape. The sole member of the team not in the NWSL, Macario is deep into her season with Lyon, while her U.S. teammates started their preseason just two weeks ago.

“It’s very obvious when you see her on the field, when you see her in training, that she just looks a little bit sharper with things that I’m pretty sure all the players are going to get once we get more training,” Andonovski said.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see the coach play Macario in the midfield in all three games to set a high bar and maintain a consistent game flow.

On-field relationships

One of the USWNT’s main goals with the SheBelieves Cup is to strengthen the relationships among players on the field.

A few pairings Andonovski mentioned are Tierna Davidson and Alana Cook in the back, Macario and Rose Lavelle in the midfield, and Sophia Smith and Mallory Pugh up top.

“These are players we believe need to spend time together so they can strengthen their relationships that we’ve seen in training, that make us believe if these relationships get stronger or they get to know each other better, that we’ll be more than successful with this team,” he said.

Camp environment

With so many new faces on the roster, it’s fair to wonder whether practices have been as competitive without as many veterans to set the tone. Becky Sauerbrunn and Kelley O’Hara are the USWNT’s highest-capped players in the SheBelieves Cup.

It may take longer for the chemistry to build, but overall, the players say it’s been business as usual.

“I think the really special thing about this team is all the personalities and the history, and that they’re all interwoven together,” Sullivan said. “So I think the standard for this team is so high no matter what, and that’s due to the culture that’s been built for decades, so I feel like there’s not a lot that’s different.”

always getting after it 😤 pic.twitter.com/qrghPk012d

— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) February 15, 2022

Three names to note

Of the 11 young players on the team, the one to watch for in this tournament is Trinity Rodman. Along with Spirit teammate Aubrey Kingsbury, Rodman has yet to earn her first USWNT cap after declining an invitation to Australia in November. After a standout 2021 NWSL campaign, in which she won a championship with the Spirit and Rookie of the Year, the 19-year-old will finally get a chance to prove herself in an international game setting.

With 87 caps, two-time FIFA World Cup champion Morgan Gautrat is appearing on her first game roster since November 2019 against Costa Rica, Andonovski’s second game as head coach. The center midfielder played a key role in the Chicago Red Stars’ run to the NWSL finals last season, starting all 24 games in which she appeared. There is much at stake as Gautrat makes her long-awaited return to the national team and uses the opportunity to make her case for a spot on the 2023 World Cup roster.

Kelley O’Hara is a veteran leader on the team who’s stuck around despite the recent influx of young national team prospects. On both the USWNT and the Spirit, O’Hara is known for being fiercely competitive, setting the bar high, speaking her mind and expecting nothing less than the best from her teammates. The defender’s energy will be critical to the team’s success this week.

Schedule

Joining the U.S. in the tournament are the Czech Republic, New Zealand and Iceland, squads Andonovski called “very, very good, quality teams.”

The U.S. will need to tap into another level of sophistication in order to break down their opponents’ defenses, since all three of these teams are very organized when they don’t have possession. If successful, the U.S. will be in line to win its third consecutive SheBelieves Cup title.

USWNT vs. Czech Republic
Thursday, 11 p.m. ET
ESPN, TUDN

USWNT vs. New Zealand
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
ABC, PrendeTV

USWNT vs. Iceland
Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET
ESPN, PrendeTV

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

Thursday night's NCAA basketball action spotlights a tense SEC rematch, as No. 2 South Carolina hosts No. 4 Texas in conference play following the pair's nonconference Players Era Championship matchup in November.

The Longhorns just edged the Gamecocks 66-64 in the Las Vegas competition's title game, but the tide has since shifted, with South Carolina now riding a 10-game winning streak into Thursday's matchup while No. 6 LSU served Texas a season-first loss last Sunday.

"I'm really disappointed in the league for putting us in that position, but we play whoever is in front of us," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer said of his team's grueling road trip. "It's one monster after another."

The pair's sole 2025/26 conference matchup could end up determining the SEC basketball regular-season title — South Carolina and Texas split their two 2024/25 SEC clashes to tie for last season's honor before the Gamecocks ousted the Longhorns from both the conference tournament and the Final Four.

While injuries have impacted both sides, South Carolina anticipates a roster boost from 6-foot-7 French international Alicia Tournebize, who recently joined the Gamecocks after playing pro ball in Europe.

"She looked good," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of her team's midseason addition. "She'll play, she'll definitely play."

How to watch Texas vs. South Carolina on Thursday

The No. 4 Longhorns will tip off against the No. 2 Gamecocks in Columbia at 7 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on ESPN2.

The NWSL Players Association is speaking out, filing a grievance against the league's new "High Impact Player" rule on Monday after claiming that the mechanism violates both the CBA and US labor laws.

"Player compensation is a mandatory subject of bargaining," the union said in its Wednesday statement. "The League has no authority to unilaterally create a new pay structure that bypasses negotiated rules."

The union requested "immediate rescission of the HIP Rule, an order requiring the League to bargain in good faith over any proposed Player compensation rules prior to implementation, and to make-whole relief for any Players impacted by the League's unilateral actions."

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With the future of stars like Trinity Rodman hanging in the balance, the "High Impact Player" rule allows clubs to exceed the salary cap by up to $1 million so long as players qualify under specific criteria — measures that a mere 27 current NWSL athletes currently meet.

The NWSLPA instead suggested simply raising the overall salary cap by $1 million, with the NWSL going on to institute the rule despite union objections.

"We want to make sure everybody has a level playing field," NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told The Athletic in December. "If the league can come in here and put their thumb on the scale…they can put their thumb on the scale of any player's contract negotiation."

With free agency heating up, players making moves, and the 2026 NWSL preseason kicking off, the pressure is mounting for both sides to figure out a lasting fix.

USWNT star Sam Coffey has sealed the deal, with WSL side Manchester City announcing on Wednesday that they've signed the 27-year-old through 2029.

Manchester City reportedly paid $875,000 in transfer fees for the midfielder, after Coffey led the Portland Thorns to one NWSL title in her four years with the NWSL club.

"Sam's reputation as one of the world's best speaks for itself," said Man City director of football Therese Sjögran in the WSL club's announcement. "We're delighted she's chosen to come here ahead of other potential suitors."

"Sam is playing at the top of her game, and I think her decision to come here shows the incredible progress we've made as a Club and the ambitions we have moving forward," added Sjögran.

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City's ambitions are rising alongside their place on the WSL table, where the Citizens currently sit six points clear atop the standings thanks to global stars like Bunny Shaw and Vivianne Miedema.

Coffey's move, however, continues to tip the USWNT's scales away from the NWSL, with over half of the starting XI from the 2024 Olympic gold-medal match now playing club football in Europe — at least for now.

"For as long as I've kicked a ball, I've always dreamed of playing professional soccer in Europe," Coffey said in an emotional letter to Portland on social media. "I would never forgive myself if I didn't go try."

How to watch Manchester City this weekend

Though the date of Coffey's European debut is still unknown, Manchester City will next take the pitch against third-flight club Bournemouth in the fourth round of the 2025/26 FA Women's Cup at 8 AM ET on Sunday before facing a top-tier battle against WSL champion Chelsea in the League Cup semifinals next Wednesday.

WSL action for the Citizens will then resume on Sunday, January 25th, when Man City takes on the London City Lionesses at 6:55 AM ET on ESPN+.

The upcoming Netflix feature film about the 1999 USWNT World Cup team has landed a lead, with Deadline confirming on Wednesday that the streaming giant is tapping actor Emily Bader to play star forward Mia Hamm in The 99'ers.

The 29-year-old most recently starred in People We Meet on Vacation, which made its debut at No. 1 on Netflix last week.

Bader previously enjoyed a breakout turn in the Prime historical drama My Lady Jane, which dropped in June 2024.

Calling her role in The 99'ers "a dream come true," Bader celebrated her Netflix casting in her Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

"Growing up playing soccer and being so inspired by @miahamm," she wrote.

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Netflix first acquired the rights to The Girls of Summer: The US Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World — a 2000 book by Jeré Longman — back in 2020, with the project officially going into development in May 2025.

Known for her directorial prowess on Sirens on Netflix as well as her Emmy and Director's Guild Award-winning work on HBO's Watchmen, Nicole Kassell will direct The 99'ers.

Kassell will work off a script penned by Katie Lovejoy (Love at First Sight, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 3), Dana Stevens (The Woman King, Fatherhood), and Peter Hedges (Ben Is Back).

Helmed by Liza Chasin from 3Dot Productions, The 99'ers boasts a production team that includes Hayley Stool, Ross Greenburg, Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith.

While no timeline for production or distribution are available, Netflix will likely aim to use the film to bolster its coverage of the the upcoming World Cups in light of the streamer recently snagging the exclusive US broadcast rights to both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.