The United States Women’s National Team will enter the 2023 World Cup with another notable injury.
USWNT captain and centre-back Becky Sauerbrunn will miss the tournament in Australia and New Zealand with a foot injury suffered in April, according to The Athletic.
The development will cost the team one of its oldest players and a key defensive presence. Sauerbrunn is the team’s active leader in caps with 207 and has appeared at the last three World Cups, winning titles in 2015 and 2019. She was also part of the team’s gold medal-winning squad in 2012.
In Sauerbrunn’s absence, the USWNT has a few veterans it could turn to for the armband. Alex Morgan, Meg Rapinoe and Kelley O’Hara all have over a decade of national team experience and will be on the World Cup roster – O’Hara wasn’t a lock but The Athletic reports she has made the team – but Morgan looks likely to get the nod as a projected starter.
The squad will also likely feature the duo of Alana Cook and Naomi Girma at centre-back, flanked by full-backs Emily Fox and Crystal Dunn.
USWNT racks up injuries ahead of Women’s World Cup
Sauerbrunn is just the latest USWNT stalwart to be ruled out ahead of the World Cup.
The team has already lost star forwards Mallory Swanson to a torn patellar tendon and Catalina Macario to ongoing issues with a torn ACL. Both players are taking massive losses, but the USWNT is nothing if not deep up front with names like Morgan, Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams still effective and available.
Midfielder Sam Mewis has also been out for months with a knee injury.
Unfortunately, that may not be the extent of the losses. Midfielder Rose Lavelle has been out since April and still looks like a question mark ahead of the tournament, which starts on July 20.