Becky Sauerbrunn, USWNT captain, to miss women's World Cup
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Becky Sauerbrunn will miss the World Cup with a foot injury, the fourth notable absence for the U.S. women’s national soccer team as it attempts to win a record third consecutive title. Sauerbrunn, the U.S. captain and one of the best defenders in program history, made the announcement Friday on Twitter. “I had hoped and worked and hoped some more to make it back in time to help lead the team at this World Cup, but after lots of discussion, unfortunately, there’s just too much variability in my return-to-play timeline,” she wrote.
Sauerbrunn’s withdrawal came five days before Coach Vlatko Andonovski is scheduled to announce his 23-woman roster for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. Training camp will open June 26 in Southern California.
The Americans will begin Group E play July 22 against Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand.
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No men’s or women’s team has won three consecutive world trophies. The top-ranked United States will attempt to do so without not only Sauerbrunn, its superb center back, but winger Mallory Swanson, midfielder Sam Mewis and attacker Catarina Macario. All are sidelined with knee injuries.
Swanson was in the best form of her career before she ruptured a patella tendon in a friendly against Ireland in April. Macario has not fully recovered from an ACL injury suffered last June. Mewis has not played in more than a year.
Midfielder Rose Lavelle, a breakout star at the last World Cup, is also a concern: She has not played for club or country since April 8 because of a knee injury, though she seems to have made enough progress to earn a World Cup roster spot.
Sauerbrunn has appeared in five of the Portland Thorns’ 11 regular season matches. After a six-week layoff, she logged 23 minutes June 3 but sat out last weekend’s game.
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While Andonovski has ample depth in the attack to help compensate for Swanson, Mewis and Macario, Sauerbrunn is almost irreplaceable. At 38, she is the active leader in appearances with 216, ninth on the U.S. career list.
The University of Virginia graduate has been a member of the national team since 2008 and started in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. This injury ends her string of six consecutive major tournaments.
With Sauerbrunn out, Alana Cook is the top candidate to join Naomi Girma in central defense. Neither has World Cup experience. Julie Ertz, who recently returned from a long layoff after giving birth, could join the mix. She was a center back on the 2015 World Cup squad before transitioning into a defensive midfielder.
“It’s been an honor to work and play alongside this incredible group of athletes,” Sauerbrunn wrote. “They have my unwavering support. And, more importantly, they have my unyielding belief.”
She added, “To my teammates, I love you. Please, take a minute to enjoy the moment, to appreciate everything that brought you here … and then back to work and go win the whole [expletive] thing!”
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Source: The Washington Post
