ST. LOUIS — St. Louis native Becky Sauerbrunn will head to Tokyo to play for the U.S. Women's Soccer Team in her third trip to the Olympics.
The women's team is full of veteran players. Eleven players who were on the USA’s roster for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil will return and 17 players who were members of the USA’s 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship team were named to the roster for Tokyo, according to a press release from U.S. Soccer.
“It’s been a long process to get to this point, longer than anyone thought it would be, but we collected a lot of information on the players over the past year and half in trainings, in their club matches and in international games and we’re confident that we’ve selected the team with the best chance for success in Japan,” coach Vlatko Andonovski said in the release.
Sauerbrunn has won two World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal as a defender. Earlier this year, she was named captain of the United States Women's National Team.
Sauerbrunn attended Ladue High School and played for one of the local youth soccer clubs, J.B. Marine SC. The video above from 2019 features girls who played through J.B. Marine and talked about how Sauerbrunn has inspired them.
Before heading to Tokyo, the women's team will head to Connecticut to play Mexico in the Women's National Team Send-Off Series.
Once they arrive in Japan, the women will play three games before the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Below is the schedule:
- July 21 vs. Sweden, 5:30 p.m. CST
- July 24 vs. New Zealand, 8:30 p.m. CST
- July 27 vs. Australia, 5 p.m, CST
The full U.S. roster:
- Goalkeepers: Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
- Defenders: Abby Dahlkemper (Manchester City), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns), Kelley O’Hara (Washington Spirit), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit)
- Midfielders: Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (Houston Dash), Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage)
- Forwards: Tobin Heath (unattached), Carli Lloyd (Gotham), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (unattached), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign)