Concacaf W Championship – Group A: USA vs. Jamaica
Date: July 7, 2022
Venue: Estadio BBVA; Monterrey, Mexico
Broadcast: Paramount+, ViX
Broadcast Time: 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT
Official Kickoff Time: 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT
Starting XI vs. Jamaica: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 2-Ashley Sanchez, 3-Alana Cook, 7-Ashley Hatch, 8-Sofia Huerta, 9-Mallory Pugh, 10-Lindsey Horan (Capt.), 11-Sophia Smith, 12-Naomi Girma, 16-Rose Lavelle, 19-Emily Fox
Available Subs: 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 5-Kelley O’Hara, 6-Trinity Rodman, 13-Alex Morgan, 14-Emily Sonnett, 17-Andi Sullivan, 18-Casey Murphy, 20-Taylor Kornieck, 21-Aubrey Kingsbury, 22-Kristie Mewis, 23-Midge Purce
Not Available: Megan Rapinoe
GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW – JAMAICA
- USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Horan (113), Naeher (82), Pugh (76), Lavelle (75), Smith (18), Fox (16), Huerta (16) Cook (12), Hatch (11), Sanchez (11) Girma (3)
- Today’s starting lineup features five different players from the XI that took the field in the USA’s Concacaf W Championship opener vs. Haiti; Naeher for Murphy in goal, Girma and Huerta for O’Hara and Sauerbrunn on defense, Sanchez for Sullivan in the midfield, and Hatch for Morgan in the attack.
- This starting XI averages 26.1 years of age, making it the youngest starting lineup for the USA in a World Cup or Olympic Qualifier since 2016 Olympic Qualifying, when a starting lineup averaged 25.6 years of age took the field against Puerto Rico on Feb. 15, 2016.
- This starting lineup averages 38 caps per player with only one player – Horan – with over 100 caps. Three other players – Naeher, Pugh and Lavelle – have over 70 caps while the remaining seven players in the starting IX all have fewer than 20 caps.
- Three payers from tonight’s Starting XI saw action in the USA’s most recent matchup against Jamaica during the 2021 Summer Series. Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle both started the June 13 matchup in Houston, where Lavelle assisted a goal by Carli Lloyd just 23 seconds into the match and Horan converted from the penalty spot in the seventh minute to double the American advantage. Sophia Smith also saw action in the last matchup with the Reggae Girlz, coming on as a second-half substitute.
- Midfielder Lindsey Horan will captain the USA for her first time ever in a Concacaf Qualifying match as she makes her 113th international appearance. Horan, who led the USA in scoring with six goals at the 2020 Concacaf Olympic Qualifying Tournament, has eight goals and eight assists in 15 career appearances in Concacaf Qualifying matches.
- Alyssa Naeher will make her 10th career start for the USA in a World Cup or Olympic Qualifying match as she earns her 82nd cap overall. Naeher has kept a clean sheet in each of her previous nine qualifying appearances and ranks third in USWNT history with 47 career shutouts.
- After making her qualifying debut in the July 4 win over Haiti, Ashley Sanchez will make her fifth career start as she earns her 11th cap overall with the USWNT. Sanchez will be making her ninth appearance of the year for the USA and will have now appeared in every match for the USA since the November 2021 friendlies in Australia.
- Alana Cook will make her second start of the tournament as she earns her 12th career cap overall. Cook leads the USA in total minutes played in 2022 with 594 and will now have started each of the last 10 games for which she has been available for the USA.
- Forward Ashley Hatch will make her qualifying debut in what will be her 11th international appearance overall for the USA. Hatch, who started the USWNT’s June 25 match against Colombia in Colorado and saw action as second-half substitute in the June 28 game in Sandy, Utah, has four goals and one assist in her 10 career caps.
- Sofia Huerta will earn her 16th cap as she makes her seventh career start for the USWNT. Huerta, for Mexico at the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and had five caps for the Mexico senior team, including the one against the USA, before making her one-time switch to the USA. Her first cap for the USWNT came in September of 2017.
- After tallying an assist on Alex Morgan’s opening goal against Haiti, Mallory Pugh will make her second consecutive start of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship in what will be her 76th cap overall for the USA. Pugh leads the USA with six assists in 2022 – her most in any calendar year with the USWNT since 2016 (7 assists) – and is also tied for the team lead in scoring with five goals on the year.
- Sophia Smith will make a second consecutive start for the USWNT as she earns her 18th cap. This will be the eighth start of the year for Smith, tied with Cook and Fox for the most by any player on the USWNT in 2022.
- Smith, who is tied atop the USA scoring charts with five goals on the year, hails from Colorado and played her club ball for Real Colorado, where she was coached by current Jamaican head coach Lorne Donaldson. Pugh, another Colorado native, was also coached by Donaldson in youth soccer.
- Twenty-two year-old Naomi Girma will make her qualifying debut as she makes her third career international appearance for the USWNT. The No. 1 pick in the 2022 NWSL College Draft, Girma made her USWNT debut less than three months ago, starting and playing the full 90 minutes on April 12 against Uzbekistan. She earned her second cap on June 28, putting in another 90-minute effort in the USA’s 2-0 victory over Colombia in Sandy, Utah.
- Rose Lavelle will make it six starts in six games as she earns her 75th career cap in today’s match against Jamaica, three years to the day in which she scored the clinching goal in the 2019 World Cup final against the Netherlands. Lavelle is the 50th player in USWNT history to reach 75 caps and has been directly involved in seven goals in the USA’s last five games, totally two goals and five assists over that span.
- Two days after celebrating her 24th birthday, Emily Fox will make her second consecutive start of the Concacaf W Championship. This will be the 16th career international appearance for Fox, who will have now played in 12 of the USA’s 13 matches since the October 2021 FIFA window, making 11` starts during that span. No other player has appeared in more matches for the USA over the last 10 months.
- Twenty-two players are available for the USA for this match against Jamaica as forward Megan Rapinoe is in Washington D.C., where she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier today from President Biden. She will be back in Mexico and available for the USA’s July 11 match against Mexico.