The United States women's national soccer team will have a familiar roster during the Tokyo Olympic Games next month.
The team announced its official roster for the Summer Games on Wednesday (June 23), which includes 17 players who were part of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup championship team among the 18-woman roster, according to USSoccer.com.
The roster is headlined by the return of Carli Lloyd, 39, who will become the oldest returning USWNT Olympian ever, and Tobin Heath, who will be appearing for the fourth time, as well as captain and center back Becky Sauerbrunn, forwards Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe and wingback Kelley O'Hara, all of whom will become three-time Olympians.
Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Julie Ertz, Christen Press and Alyssa Naeher will all be appearing in their second Olympic games.
First-time Olympians include Abby Dahlkemper, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett, Samantha Mewis, Rose Lavelle, Adrianna Franch and Kristie Mewis, who is the only addition to the 2019 World Cup team on the Olympics roster.
āWe know there are some very talented players that wonāt be in Japan, but these were the difficult decisions that we had to make,ā said USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski. āWe have a very experienced roster that has been through adversity at the highest levels, so itās no surprise those players have distinguished themselves. Theyāve embraced the challenges and have shown tremendous flexibility and determination over the past 15 months to get us to where we are today.ā
2020 U.S. OLYMPIC WOMENāS SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION via USSoccer.com:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)
DEFENDERS (6):Abby Dahlkemper (Manchester City/ENG), Tierna Davidson (Chicago Red Stars), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Kelley OāHara (Washington Spirit), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit)
MIDFIELDERS (5):Julie Ertz (Chicago Red Stars), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (Houston Dash), Samantha Mewis (North Carolina Courage)
FORWARDS (5):Tobin Heath (Unattached), Carli Lloyd (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Unattached), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign)
The USWNT will look to become the first team to win Olympic gold immediately after winning the World Cup.