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U.S. Women's National Team

Jill Ellis Names 19 to Face Switzerland on Aug. 20

The timing is strange and the roster features a few curious quirks, but that won't stop the U.S. women's national team from its first-ever international contest against Switzerland.
BY John D. Halloran Posted
August 14, 2014
6:43 PM
UNITED STATES women’s national team head coach Jill Ellis has named a 19-player roster for the team’s upcoming friendly against Switzerland.

The game, which will be played in Cary, North Carolina on August 20 (7:30 p.m. ET; livestream on ussoccer.com), will be the team’s 13th match of 2014 as the team continues preparations for World Cup qualifying in October.

Here’s a look at the roster along with some possible implications.

GOALKEEPERS: Ashlyn Harris (Washington Spirit), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)

DEFENDERS: Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Houston Dash), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City)

MIDFIELDERS: Morgan Brian (Virginia), Lauren Holiday (FC Kansas City), Carli Lloyd (WNY Flash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Heather O’Reilly (Boston Breakers), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC)

FORWARDS: Sydney Leroux (Seattle Reign FC), Alex Morgan (Portland Thorns), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Amy Rodriguez (FC Kansas City), Abby Wambach (WNY Flash)

Um, Really?

This will be the first time these two sides have met at the international level and, considering that Switzerland has already qualified for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the game seems like a good matchup for the U.S.

However, the timing of the friendly has left many questioning why U.S. Soccer scheduled the game in the first place. Depending on NWSL results on Wednesday night, 11 of the 19 players Ellis selected could be playing in the NWSL playoffs only days after appearing for national team duty.

The match against Switzerland is sandwiched between the final regular season weekend of the NWSL and the league’s playoffs, and is likely to be a major annoyance to club coaches—and perhaps even a few players. Considering that U.S. Soccer is heavily involved in the NWSL—to the point of funding the league’s contracts with many national team players—the date of the friendly in relation to the NWSL season seems to have been an avoidable error.

However, U.S. Soccer's Sunil Gulati has spoken in the past of the difficulty in finding quality opponents for the U.S. women and, considering there is no official international calendar for the women’s game, he may have simply felt this game was too valuable to pass up.

Knowing this conflict existed, it seems that Ellis could have selected only players from NWSL teams that didn’t advance to the playoffs. But, this may have been logistically impossible considering the short time between the final league games this weekend and the midweek friendly.

Goalkeepers

Ellis only named two keepers to the U.S. squad for the match, Hope Solo and Ashlyn Harris. Those selections seem to indicate that Harris is currently the preferred back-up to Solo. Though Solo is still unquestionably the U.S.’s No. 1 in the net, her recent legal issues could make the backup role for the U.S. much more important than it has been in recent years.

Nicole Barnhart, who was Solo’s backup through the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics, was not called in and it wasn’t made immediately clear whether this was purely a coach’s decision, or due to the injuries Barnhart has been working through. Jill Loyden and Alyssa Naeher, who have also been part of the U.S. pool in recent months, were also left out of the squad.

If Solo does get the start next week, as expected, she will have the chance to break Briana Scurry’s all-time shutout record for the United States.

Defenders

There were several surprises among the defenders called in by Ellis. Most notable: Whitney Engen and Kelley O’Hara, who are both proven national team defenders, did not get the nod.

Perhaps with the short camp, Ellis wants to spend more time looking at Julie Johnston and Meghan Klingenberg. If that is not the case, the decision to exclude O’Hara and Engen makes little sense.

Engen is a proven commodity in the back line for the U.S., an area of the team that is still transitioning from the Christie Rampone-Rachel Van Hollebeke combination so familiar to fans over the past few years. Rampone is still a quality player, but Van Hollebeke’s health has been up-and-down all year.

While Johnston is no doubt a quality player, it would be surprising if she had leapfrogged Engen in the player pool considering that Engen has been a consistent performer for the team over the past two years while Johnston has rarely seen the field. Over that time, Engen had seemingly emerged as the player most likely to partner Sauerbrunn at center back in World Cup qualifying. For her to be left off the roster entirely is a shock.

Even more troubling is the absence of O’Hara. Again, perhaps Ellis is simply planning to take a longer look at Klingenberg, but O’Hara needs to be re-integrated into the U.S. back line sooner rather than later. After a long absence due to injury, as well as playing at forward at the club level, O’Hara needs practice and game time at defense. At this point in time, she is still the U.S.’s best option at left back.

In the U.S.’s last camp, Ellis looked at O’Hara as a forward, but with the U.S.’s stable of quality forwards and lack of depth at left back, the decision seems misplaced.

Midfielders and Forwards

The big question from Ellis’ midfield selections is, what formation will the U.S. be playing?

With four central midfielders selected—Lauren Holiday, Carli Lloyd, Allie Long and Morgan Brian—a 4-3-3 seems most likely, but that would probably push call-ups Heather O’Reilly and Megan Rapinoe to forward, where the U.S. already has five other quality players vying for playing time.

That issue alone—considering the U.S. would be forced to leave several of its best attackers out of the lineup in a three-front—will certainly reignite the debate over what formation the U.S. should be playing.

The other big issue considering the midfield selections is the lack of a true holding midfielder. But considering that Shannon Boxx is still not back to full fitness and Amber Brooks has not been called up in months, it seems likely that Ellis is planning to begin World Cup qualifying without a natural defensive midfielder on the roster.

Midfielder Tobin Heath, who is injured with a sprained LCL, was also left off the squad.

Ellis selected five forwards for the roster, including Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Syndey Leroux, Christen Press and Amy Rodriguez—five selections that will raise virtually no debate among U.S. fans. Of course, it will prove very interesting to see which of these accomplished strikers get playing time, and which end up watching from the bench.

What do you think of the timing and the roster? Share your take below.

John D. Halloran is an American Soccer Now columnist. Follow him on Twitter.

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