The 2020 Summer Olympics are just around the corner and the U.S. Women’s National Team has selected the soccer players heading to Tokyo.
Vlatko Andonovski, USWNT’s head coach, announced the names of the 18-player roster for this summer’s Olympic Games on Wednesday. The team includes 11 players who were on the U.S. roster for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and 17 players who were members of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“It’s been a long process to get to this point, longer than anyone thought it would be,” Andonovski said in a statement. “But we collected a lot of information on the players over the past year and a 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.”
MORE: US Women's soccer stars hope 2019 World Cup inspires girls to 'believe in themselves'Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who led the U.S. Women’s National Team to a World Cup victory in 2019, will be competing at the Olympics with the USWNT for the third time.
For forwards Carli Lloyd and Tobin Heath, the 2020 USWNT is their fourth Olympic team. Lloyd, who will turn 39 next month, is the oldest U.S. Women’s Soccer Olympian, nearly two years older than former captain and 2021 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Christie Pearce when she played in the 2012 Olympics.
Also on the team is forward Alex Morgan. The 31-year-old California native previously won gold at the 2012 Olympics and has been on the National Team for 11 years. The 2020 games will be her first Olympics as a mom.
"I’m actually the 13th mom on the national team so I’m here representing all the future moms and I’m trying to show that we can do it all," Morgan, whose daughter Charlie just turned 1, said Wednesday on "GMA." "As challenging as it is, you have to figure it out. You have to be mom and a professional athlete."
"There’s a lot of athletes going to Tokyo that are also fellow mom athletes and I’m excited to catch up with them and just kind of represent all the moms," she said.
Morgan said the team is preparing to play in a different type of Olympics that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, will include only local fans. They are also gearing up to play the team Morgan described as likely their biggest competitor, Sweden.
"We seem to always find ourselves playing Sweden in every major tournament and we’re starting off playing Sweden," she said. "They actually kicked us out of Rio [2016 Summer Olympics], so that’s going to be a big game."
Those heading to the Olympics for the first time include defenders Abby Dahlkemper, Tierna Davidson and Emily Sonnett, goalkeeper Adrianna Franch, midfielders Rose Lavelle and sisters Samantha and Kristie Mewis.
MORE: Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Cardi B to J.K. Rowling: Women's national soccer team honors inspirational women with their jerseysCheck out the full list of players heading to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics below.
Goalkeepers
Adrianna Franch
Alyssa Naeher
Defenders
Abby Dahlkemper
Tierna Davidson
Crystal Dunn
Kelley O’Hara
Becky Sauerbrunn
Emily Sonnett
Midfielders
Julie Ertz
Lindsey Horan
Rose Lavelle
Kristie Mewis
Samantha Mewis
Forwards
Tobin Heath
Carli Lloyd
Alex Morgan
Christen Press
Megan Rapinoe
