USWNT vs. Vietnam – 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup – Group E
Date: July 22, 2023
Venue: Eden Park; Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand
Broadcast: FOX, Telemundo, Universo, Peacock
Official Kickoff Time: 1:00 p.m. NZT / 9:00 p.m. ET on July 21
Starting XI vs. Vietnam: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 4-Naomi Girma, 8-Julie Ertz, 9-Savannah DeMelo, 10-Lindsey Horan (Capt.), 11-Sophia Smith, 13-Alex Morgan, 17-Andi Sullivan, 19-Crystal Dunn, 20-Trinity Rodman, 23-Emily Fox
Available Subs: 2-Ashley Sanchez, 3-Sofia Huerta, 5-Kelley O’Hara, 6-Lynn Williams, 7-Alyssa Thompson, 12-Alana Cook, 14-Emily Sonnett, 15-Megan Rapinoe, 16-Rose Lavelle, 18-Casey Murphy, 21-Aubrey Kingsbury, 22-Kristie Mewis
GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
- USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (Including this match): Morgan (208), Dunn (133), Horan (130), Ertz (119), Naeher (92), Sullivan (46), Smith (31), Fox (30), Rodman (19), Girma (17), DeMelo (2).
- The USA’s starting lineup to open the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup features five players who were part of the USA’s 2019 Women’s World Cup championship squad and six players making their FIFA Women’s World Cup debut.
- This is the fourth World Cup for Alex Morgan, the third for Julie Ertz and Alyssa Naeher, the second for Crystal Dunn and Lindsey Horan and the first for Naomi Girma, Savannah DeMelo, Sophia Smith, Andi Sullivan, Trinity Rodman and Emily Fox.
- The starting XI to face Vietnam averages 74 caps per player and averages 27.8 years of age, making it the youngest lineup to start a World Cup match for the USWNT since 2007.
- The lineup to kick off the World Cup features three different players from the XI that started the USA’s Send-Off Match against Wales on July 9, with Ertz, DeMelo and Rodman starting in place of Alana Cook, Ashley Sanchez and Alyssa Thompson.
- Lindsey Horan, who appeared in six matches and made four starts for the USWNT at the 2019 World Cup, will captain the USA for the first time at a major tournament as she earns her 130th career cap. Horan leads the USWNT with 590 total minutes played this year and had two goals and two assists in the USA’s run to the 2019 World Cup title.
- The only U.S. player to play every minute of the 2019 World Cup, Alyssa Naeher will make her 92nd international appearance in what will be her eighth start – and eighth appearance overall – for the USA in a World Cup match. Of Naeher’s 54 career clean sheets, four have come in World Cup matches including a 2-0 shutout in the 2019 World Cup final against the Netherlands.
- Defender Naomi Girma will make her World Cup debut in what will be her 17th international appearance and 15th career start overall for the USA. Girma, who played every minute for the USA at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, has played the full 90 minutes in 11 of her 16 career appearances for the USA since earning her first cap in April of 2022.
- Less than a year after giving birth to her son Madden in August of 2022, Julie Ertz will make her 14th career appearance – and 14th career start – for the USA at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. A two-time champion, Ertz played every minute of her six starts for the USA in 2019 and played every minute of all seven games during the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Ertz is set to make her first start and third appearance of 2023 for the USA as she earns her 119th cap.
- Midfielder Savannah DeMelo will make her first career start as she makes just her second career appearance for the USA. The 25-year-old DeMelo earned her first cap in the USA’s July 9 Send-Off Match against Wales and now becomes the first USWNT player to make her World Cup debut – and first to start in the World Cup - in one of her first two caps.
- The first player born in the 2000s to earn a cap for the USWNT, Sophia Smith will play in her first World Cup match as she earns her 31st cap overall for the USA. The reigning U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year, Smith scored a team-high 11 goals for the USA in 2022 and assisted Trinity Rodman’s opening goal in the USA’s 2-0 win against Wales earlier this month.
- Alex Morgan, who made her World Cup debut in 2011, is set to appear in her fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup and her 19th Women’s World Cup match. Morgan, the most capped player and leading scorer overall on this roster, has scored nine career World Cup goals, five of which came in the USA’s opening group stage match against Thailand in 2019. Morgan’s five-goal effort tied both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and U.S. Soccer single-game scoring records.
- Midfielder Andi Sullivan will make her seventh start of 2023 as she earns her 46th cap for the USWNT and first ever at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Sullivan played in two youth World Cups before getting her first call-up to the senior National Team in 2016 and leads the USA in total minutes and games played since the end of the 2021 Olympics.
- Crystal Dunn is set to make her sevenths start and seventh appearance overall at the FIFA Women’s World Cup as she earns her 133rd cap for the USWNT, moving into a tie with Lauren Holiday for 28th on the USA’s all-time caps list. Dunn played every minute of all six of her starts in France at outside back and had one assist in the tournament, that coming in the opening game victory vs. Thailand.
- The youngest player in today’s starting lineup at 21 years and 63 days of age, Trinity Rodman is set to make her World Cup debut as she makes her fifth career start for the USWNT. Rodman scored both goals in the USA’s 2-0 win over Wales on July 9, becoming the youngest player in four years to net a brace for the USWNT, and is tied for second on the team with five total goal involvements this year (two goals, three assists).
- A mainstay on the USA defense over the last two years, Emily Fox will make her World Cup debut as she earns her 30th cap overall for the USWNT. Fox represented the USA at the 2016 and 2018 Under-20 FIFA Women’s World Cups and has played in 25 of the USA’s 30 games since the conclusion of the 2021 Olympics.
