Date: Nov. 27, 2020
Venue: Rat Verlegh Stadion; Breda, Netherlands
Broadcast: ESPN2, TUDN
Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. ET
Starting XI vs. Netherlands: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt.), 7-Abby Dahlkemper, 19-Crystal Dunn; 8-Julie Ertz, 3-Samantha Mewis, 16-Rose Lavelle; 6-Lynn Williams, 23-Christen Press, 17-Tobin Heath
Available Subs: 2-Emily Sonnett, 11-Sophia Smith, 12-Tierna Davidson, 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Margaret Purce, 18-Jane Campbell, 22-Kristie Mewis, 26-Jaelin Howell
U.S. WNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Becky Sauerbrunn (178), Tobin Heath (169), Christen Press (139), Kelley O’Hara (132), Crystal Dunn (105), Julie Ertz (103), Samantha Mewis (68), Alyssa Naeher (64), Abby Dahlkemper (62), Rose Lavelle (46), Lynn Williams (29)
Alyssa Naeher has 36 career shutouts in her 63 caps, including a shutout in the World Cup Final, becoming the fifth goalkeeper to earn a shutout in a Women’s World Cup Final. Naeher is playing in her seventh game of 2020 with Ashlyn Harris and Adrianna Franch each getting a start earlier in the year.
Becky Sauerbrunn is the most-capped player on the U.S. roster and will be captaining the team for the first time since Nov. 12, 2017, a 3-1 win vs. Canada in San Jose, Calif.
Crystal Dunn will be starting her ninth match of the year, the only player to start every match in 2020.
Kelley O’Hara is set to earn her 132nd cap and make her fifth start of 2020.
Abby Dahlkemper makes her 62nd appearance for the USWNT and leads the team in minutes played this year with 658. Dahlkemper played the most minutes of any field player at the 2019 Women’s World Cup and played full 90s in 17 of her 23 games in 2019.
Julie Ertz will make her 103rd appearance for the USA. In March, Ertz scored a dramatic late game-winner against Spain on March 8, becoming the 29th American female player to hit the 20-goal mark.
Samantha Mewis makes her 68th international appearance and sixth start of the year today. Mewis has been in an excellent run of form for Manchester City, helping Man City win the FA Cup title alongside her country woman Rose Lavelle and becoming the third American (and second American woman) to score in an FA Cup Final with her goal against Everton on Nov. 1.
Rose Lavelle will earn her 46th cap tonight and enters the match with 12 international goals, including her goal against the Netherlands in the 2019 World Cup Final.
Lynn Williams will be making her fifth start in eight appearances in 2020 and is tied for the team lead with five assists on the year, to go along with three goals. Five of William’s 12 career starts have come in 2020.
Christen Press was the only player to appear in all 24 WNT games in 2019 and has been directly involved in 25 goals in her last 26 appearances for the USA, scoring 11 goals and assisting 14 more.
Press has nine goals in her last 10 games for the USA, failing only to score in the Concacaf Olympic Qualifying against Mexico and against Spain on March 8 in New Jersey.
Tobin Heath comes into the match on good run of form for Manchester United, scoring twice, and causing danger in every match she’s played. Her most recent international goal was an epic no-look finish against Panama back on Jan. 31, giving her 33 career international goals which includes 15 goals in her last 36 matches and 13 in her last 31.
Heath has 40 career assists, moving past Lauren Holiday and into 13th place on the USA’s all-time assist list.
Alex Morgan makes her return to the game roster for the first time since becoming a mom on May 7. If she sees action against the Netherlands, it will be her first USWNT game since the 2019 Women’s World Cup Final, a span of 509 days. She enters the match with 107 career goals and with her next tally would pass Michelle Akers to take sole possession of fifth on the USWNT all-time scoring charts.
Morgan can become the 12th player to compete for the USWNT after becoming a mother, joining Joy Fawcett, Shannon Boxx, Stephanie Cox, Tina Ellertson, Danielle Fotopoulos, Sydney Leroux, current USWNT GM Kate Markgraf, 2019 Women’s World Cup champion Jessica McDonald, Carla Overbeck, Christie Pearce and Amy Rodriguez.
Today’s Starting XI features nine players who started vs. the Netherlands in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup final and ten who saw action in the match.
Abby Dahlkemper and Press are the only players besides Dunn to appear in all nine matches this year.
Kristie Mewis returns to the matchday roster and could make her first appearance for the USA since March 10, 2014. Should she see the field, Kristie Mewis will have gone 2,454 days between her 15th and 16th cps, the second-longest span between caps by any player in USWNT history. Defender Keri Raygor went 2,466 days between her eighth and ninth caps from March 1994 to December 2000.
Should Kristie and Samantha Mewis see time together on the field, it will mark their third USWNT game together – and first since 2014 — breaking a tie with the Fair sisters (Lorrie and Ronnie) for most games played together by sisters on the USWNT. The Mewis sisters have started one game together and came off the bench in one game together, which was Sam’s first cap at the 2014 Algarve Cup.
Two players on Friday’s game day roster are uncapped – 20-year-old Sophia Smith and 21-year-old Jaelin Howell. If either Howell or Smith gets in the match, they would become the first player(s) born after the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup to earn a USWNT cap.
Should Smith see the field, she will become the first player born in the 2000s to earn a USWNT cap.
