USWNT vs. Paraguay International Friendly
Date: September 16, 2021
Venue: FirstEnergy Stadium; Cleveland, Ohio
Broadcast: ESPN2
Broadcast Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Official Kickoff Time: 7:38 p.m. ET
Starting XI vs. Paraguay: 18-Adrianna Franch; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt.), 12-Tierna Davidson, 19-Crystal Dunn; 25-Andi Sullivan, 22-Kristie Mewis, 16-Rose Lavelle; 6-Lynn Williams, 10-Carli Lloyd, 11-Mallory Pugh
Available Subs: 2-Abby Dahlkemper, 7-Tobin Heath, 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Emily Sonnett, 17-Catarina Macario, 20-Casey Krueger, 21-JaneCampbell, 27-Sophia Smith
GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW – PARAGUAY
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U.S. WNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Lloyd (313), Sauerbrunn (194), O’Hara (146), Dunn (123), Pugh (64), Lavelle (63), Williams (41), Davidson (40), K. Mewis (29), Sullivan (18), Franch (9)
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Becky Sauerbrunn will captain the USA in her 194th overall cap as she makes her 16th appearance and 16th start of the year. Sauerbrunn leads the USA in minutes played in 2021 with 1,380 and sits in 10th-place all-time in USWNT history with 15,230 minutes played.
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Goalkeeper Adrianna Franch will make her second consecutive start and earn her ninth overall cap with the USWNT. This will be Franch’s sixth career start and third this year, starting and recording a shutout in the USA’s 4-0 win over Jamaica on June 13 and then playing the entire 90 minutes in the Olympic bronze medal game on August 5, earning the win the 4-3 victory against Australia.
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Kelley O’Hara will make her 14th start of the year in what will be her 146th cap overall. O’Hara has played the full 90 minutes in seven of the last eight games in which she has been available for the USA, including five starts and 471 total minutes of action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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Tierna Davidson will make her third consecutive start as she earns her 40th cap overall for the USWNT. The 22-year-old Davidson made four starts at the Olympics and played the full 90 minutes in each of those outings, while also appearing in five of the USA’s six Olympic games overall.
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Crystal Dunn will make her team-leading 17th start of the year tonight against Paraguay in what will be her 123rd appearance overall for the USWNT. The only USA player to start all six matches at the Tokyo Olympics, Dunn is second on the team in total minutes played this year with 1,361.
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Midfielder Andi Sullivan will earn her 18th cap as she makes her first start for the USWNT since January 31, 2020 when she started and played the full 90 minutes against Panama during Concacaf Olympic Qualifying. Sullivan made her first appearance of the year for the USWNT on June 13, coming on in the 74th minute against Jamaica.
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Kristie Mewis will make her 12th career start and fourth start of 2021 in today’s match against Paraguay. It will be the 29th cap overall for the elder Mewis, who saw action in two matches for the USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Ohio-native Rose Lavelle will earn her 63rd career cap as she makes her 13th start of 2021. Lavelle has appeared in 16 of the USWNT’s 18 games so far in 2021, tallying two goals and two assists. Lavelle has played three times previously in her home state of Ohio – starting the USA’s 5-0 win over New Zealand on September 19, 2017 at Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, a substitute appearance in the USA’s 2-1 win over China at Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium on June 12, 2018, and a 62-minute showing in Columbus on November 7, 2019 in Valtko Andonovski’s first match with the USWNT.
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Lynn Williams will make her 12th appearance and eighth start of the year with her appearance tonight against Paraguay. Williams is slated to earn her 41st career cap and has three goals and one assist on the year, which includes a goal and an assist against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics.
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Carli Lloyd will earn her 313th career cap in tonight’s game against Paraguay in what will also be her team-leading 19th appearance of 2021. Lloyd currently leads the team with six assists on the year and has nine assists in her last 23 appearances for the USA. Paraguay will be the 43rd different opponent Lloyd has faced in her 17-year-career. Lloyd has scored against 36 of the previous 42 countries she has played against in her career and has 128 career goals in her international career, just two behind Kristine Lilly for third all-time in U.S. history.
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Forward Mallory Pugh will earn her 64th career cap as she makes her first start for the USWNT since October 3, 2019, when she started and scored in the USA’s 2-0 win over Korea Republic. Pugh’s most recent outing for the USWNT came on March 11, 2020 when she tallied an assist as a second-half substitute in the USA’s 3-1 win over Japan in the finale of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.
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Lindsey Horan will not be available for either of the matches against Paraguay after sustaining a minor injury while playing for the Portland Thorns on September 12. Horan, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and midfielder Samantha Mewis are with the team in Cleveland for evaluation and rehabilitation.
