USWNT vs. JAPAN
Date: April 17, 2026
Venue: DICK’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.
Broadcast: TNT, truTV and HBO Max in English and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock
Radio: Westwood One in English
Official Kickoff Time: 7:07 p.m. MT
USA: 1-Claudia Dickey, 2-Trinity Rodman, 4-Naomi Girma, 10-Lindsey Heaps, 11-Sophia Wilson, 12-Tierna Davidson, 15-Claire Hutton, 16-Rose Lavelle, 21-Alyssa Thompson, 22-Gisele Thompson, 23-Emily Fox
Available Subs: 3-Avery Patterson, 5-Lilly Reale, 6-Emily Sams, 7-Lily Yohannes, 8-Jaedyn Shaw, 9-Ally Sentnor, 13-Olivia Moultrie, 17-Sam Coffey, 19-Emma Sears, 20-Michelle Cooper, 24-Phallon Tullis-Joyce, 25-Kennedy Wesley
Not dressing: 14-Emily Sonnett, 18-Jane Campbell
USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (Including this match): Heaps (176), Lavelle (120), Fox (76), Davidson (69), Wilson (61), Rodman (55), Girma (54), A. Thomspon (31), Hutton (17), Dickey (10), G. Thompson (10)
Notes:
- Tonight’s Starting XI averages 60.7 caps heading into the match.
- Emma Hayes has made ten changes to the Starting XI from the last match April 14 with Claire Hutton as the lone player to start two games in a row. However, this Starting XI has only two changes from the Starting XI on the April 11 in the first game against Japan. From the first match, Tierna Davidson has replaced Kennedy Wesley on the back line and Claire Hutton has stepped in for Sam Coffey in the midfield.
- Eight of the starters have FIFA Women’s World Cup and/or Olympic experience: Lindsey Heaps, Rose Lavelle, Emily Fox, Naomi Girma, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson, Tierna Davidson and Alyssa Thompson.
- The Thompson sisters are the third pair of sisters to represent the USA. The first time Gisele and her older sister Alyssa were called in together was the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, and they became the first pair of sisters to come to camp from the same professional club (Angel City FC). The first instance of sisters on the same USWNT roster was in the late 1990s when twins Lorrie and Ronnie Fair were called up together. More recently, Samantha and Kristie Mewis were on the 2021 Olympic Team together.
- The Thompson sisters hold the record for most USWNT matches started together by sisters as they will share the same Starting XI for the fifth time. This will be the seventh all-time WNT match they have played together. The most recent dual start for the Thompson sisters was on April 11 vs. Japan. The Mewis sisters hold the record for most USWNT matches played together by sisters with 12.
- Colorado is the home state of forward Sophia Wilson and midfielder Lindsey Heaps. Wilson hails from Windsor just an hour from Commerce City and Denver proper while Golden, a suburb of Denver is Heaps’ hometown.
- The U.S. last played in Colorado on June 26, 2025, against Ireland and won the match 4-0, but neither Wilson nor Heaps were on the roster. Wilson was pregnant and USWNT head coach Emma Hayes had given the European players, including Heaps, the summer FIFA window off to rest and recharge after a long European season.
- The last time Wilson and Heaps played in Colorado was on June 1, 2024, vs. Korea Republic. The U.S. also won that match 4-0, which was also Emma Hayes’ first match as head coach of the USWNT and the fourth-to-last match before of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- Come July, Heaps will play in her home state much more frequently as the midfielder joins NWSL expansion side the Denver Summit for the second half of their inaugural season once her final French Première league season with OL Lyonnes ends and her 2025-2026 UEFA Women’s Champions League fate has been decided.
- With her cap today, Heaps ties Shannon MacMillan for 18th most caps in USWNT history with 176, making her one of only 19 women to reach that mark.
MATCH HUB | MATCH PREVIEW
STARTING XI NOTES:
Lindsey Heaps, 31, earns her 176th cap, 136th start and it will be her 43rd game captaining the U.S. She currently has 40 career goals, good for 16th all-time in U.S. history. The OL Lyonnes midfielder will finish out the season with the French side before returning to the NWSL in her home state to play for expansion side Denver Summit FC.
Rose Lavelle, 30, earns her 120h cap and 101st start. She ties Lorrie Fair for 35th most caps ever with 120. Lavelle was the 31st player to reach 100 starts for the USWNT – doing so on April 11 vs. Japan – and is tied for 14th fastest player to hit that mark with Abby Wambach. The fastest players to reach 100 starts were Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett who both did so in 101 caps.
Emily Fox, 27, earns her 76th cap and 64th start. The Arsenal FC right back played the final 210 minutes of the 2026 SheBelieves Cup, playing her first two full 90-minute international matches since October of 2025.
Tierna Davidson, 27, earns her 69th cap and 53rd start. Davidson makes her first start since Feb. 23, 2025, a 2-1 win over Australia. She played a full 90 minutes in that match. This is Davidson’s second appearance and first start since returning to the roster in this camp. She had not played in an international match since the final SheBelieves Cup match of 2025 vs. Japan on Feb. 26.
Sophia Wilson, 25, earns her 61st cap and 42nd start as she returns to the USWNT after giving birth to her daughter. Wilson passes Casey Krueger to tie Leslie Osborne for 60th most caps in WNT history. Wilson’s most recent match before this window for the U.S. was on Oct. 27, 2024, vs. Iceland, her most recent goal was on Oct. 24, 2024, also vs. Iceland. Wilson is the 18th mother to play for the USWNT. Should Wilson score she would become the ninth woman to score as a mother. Players who have scored as a mom are Alex Morgan (with 16 goals as a mom), Joy Fawcett (13 goals), Danielle Fotopoulos (5), Amy Rodriguez (4), Jessica McDonald (2), Kate Markgraf (1), Kristine Lilly (1) and Tina Ellertson (1). With a goal against Brazil on Feb. 22, 2023, Morgan moved past Fawcett to become the all-time leader in U.S. goals as a mom with 14 and ended her career with 16 goals as a mom.
Naomi Girma, 25, this is Girma’s 54th cap and 52nd start for the U.S. and she was the 70th player to earn 50 caps, doing so on Dec. 1 vs. Italy. Girma starts the match alongside fellow former Stanford center back Tierna Davidson.
Trinity Rodman, 23, earns her 55th cap and makes her 34th start. Rodman earned her 50th cap on March 1 vs. Argentina. Rodman is the 22nd fastest player to make it to 50 caps and the 71st to do so overall.
Alyssa Thompson, 21, earns her 31st cap and 18th start. She and her sister Gisele extend their record for sisters starting in the same USWNT match. Samantha and Kristie Mewis started in the same match three times, and the Thompsons have now done so five times. Alyssa was named the London Football Awards Women’s Young Player of the Year at the end of 2025.
Claudia Dickey, 26, earns her 10th cap and 10th start. She has earned seven shutouts and nine wins across her nine caps thus far for the USWNT.
Gisele Thompson, 20, earns her 10th cap and seventh start. She made her debut in last year’s SheBelieves Cup, earning her first cap vs. Colombia on Feb. 20, 2025, and earning her first start vs. Australia on Feb. 23, 2025. She earned her first assist in this year’s match vs. Paraguay on Jan. 24. This is the (record) fifth time she and her sister Alyssa Thompson will start a USWNT match together and seventh time they’ll play in the same USWNT game. They have surpassed the Mewis sisters in shared starts (five) but are five games short of tying the Mewis sisters for most USWNT games played together (12).
Claire Hutton, 20, earns her 18th cap and makes her 14th start. On April 11, she subbed on in the first match against Japan in the 85th minute, replacing Lindsey Heaps in the midfield. She started on April 14 and captained the team, making her the youngest captain to start a game with the armband since 2001. She is the only player to start the April 14 game who also gets the start tonight.
