2021 SheBelieves Cup: USA vs. Argentina - Lineup, Schedule & TV Channels

2021 SheBelieves Cup, Presented by Visa

Date: Feb. 24, 2021
Venue: Exploria Stadium; Orlando, Fla.
Broadcast: FS1, TUDN
Broadcast Time: 7 p.m. ET


Starting XI vs. Brazil: 18-Jane Campbell; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt.), 12-Tierna Davidson, 2-Casey Krueger; 8-Julie Ertz, 22-Kristie Mewis, 16-Rose Lavelle; 15-Megan Rapinoe, 10-Carli Lloyd, 23-Christen Press

Available Subs: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 3-Jaelin Howell, 6-Lynn Williams, 7-Abby Dahlkemper, 9-Lindsey Horan, 13-Alex Morgan, 17-Sophia Smith, 18-Jane Campbell, 19-Crystal Dunn, 20-Margaret Purce, 21-Casey Murphy

Game Notes

• U.S. WNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Lloyd (299), Sauerbrunn (182), Rapinoe (173), Press (142), O’Hara (134), Ertz (108), Lavelle (51), Krueger (34), Tierna Davidson (28), Mewis (21), Campbell (5)

• Wednesday’s lineup features seven changes from the starting lineup that faced Brazil on Feb. 21: Jane Campbell replaces Alyssa Naeher in goal, Casey Krueger, Tierna Davidson and Kelley O’Hara for Crystal Dunn, Abby Dahlkemper and Emily Sonnett on the back line, Kristie Mewis for Lindsey Horan in the midfield, and on the forward line, Megan Rapinoe for Lynn Williams and Carli Lloyd for Alex Morgan.  

• Goalkeeper Jane Campbell will be making her third career start and her fifth career appearance for the USWNT. This will be Campbell’s second start of 2021 as she played the full 90 minutes and recorded her first career shutout in the USA’s 6-0 win vs. Colombia on Jan. 22 at Exploria Stadium.

• Casey Krueger is set to make her first start of 2021 and earn her 34^th cap overall. Krueger helped close out the Feb. 18 win vs. Canada with a nine-minute stint at left back. This will be her first start for the USA since playing 90 minutes against Sweden on Nov. 7, 2019 in Vlatko Andonovski’s first game as head coach.

• Defender and team captain Becky Sauerbrunn will be earning her 182^nd cap. Sauerbrunn is currently 14^th in USWNT history in caps and 12^th in total minutes played.  

• Earning her 28^th career cap, Tierna Davidson will see her first action of the 2021 SheBelieves Cup and make her second start of the year. Davidson played the full 90 minutes in the 6-0 win vs. Colombia on Jan. 22, her first game action since starting and playing the first half of the 2020 SheBelieves Cup finale against Japan on March 11 in Frisco, Texas.

• This will be the seventh game Davidson and Sauerbrunn have started together at center back and their first under Andonvoski. The duo started Jill Ellis’ final match together as the center back pairing on Oct. 6, 2019 and their previous six starts together in central defense all came in 2018.

• After missing the first two games of the tournament due to a minor injury, Kelley O’Hara is set to make her 2021 SheBelieves Cup debut and will be earning her 134^th cap overall. A two-time World Cup winner and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, O’Hara has two goals and 19 assists in her international career.   

• Julie Ertz will be making her 108^th appearance for the USA and is the only player who has played every minute of all three games this year and leads the team with 360 minutes played in 2021. In fact, Ertz has played every minute in each of the USA’s last 10 games, playing 900 consecutive minutes, the longest such streak of her USWNT career. 

• Kristie Mewis will be making her 9th career start and first start since March 10, 2014, making it her first start for the USWNT in 2,543 days, the second-longest span between starts in team history. Keri Raygor went 2,664 days between starts from 1994 to 2001. Mewis is one of six players to appear in all five completed matches for the USA since the resumption of play in November 2020.  

• Rose Lavelle will make her second consecutive start and her 51^st overall cap today. Lavelle has accounted for two of the USA’s five game-winning goals since the resumption of play in November 2020 - including the game-winner in the USA’s SheBelieves Cup opener vs. Canada on Feb. 18 - and has four goals in her last 11 outings for the USWNT. Prior to that, Lavelle had scored four goals in her previous 21 appearances for the USA. 

• Christen Press will make her second consecutive start and earn her 142^nd cap overall for with the USWNT. Press was one of only two players to play in all 24 WNT games in 2019 and played in all nine in 2020 before missing the first two of 2021. 

• Press has been directly involved in 27 goals in her last 29 appearances for the USA, scoring 12 goals and assisting 15 more. She also served in the free kick that led to Rose Lavelle’s game-winner vs. Canada on Feb. 18.

• Carli Lloyd will earn her 299^th cap tonight, making her one caps way from becoming the third American and third player ever – male or female - to play 300 or more times for her country, joining her former teammates Kristine Lilly and Christine Pearce Rampone. With 123 career goals, Lloyd is just seven goals behind Lilly for third all-time in goals in U.S. history.

• Lloyd has hit the back of the net in eight of her last 18 appearances for the USA, scoring 10 times. She has scored in four of her 13 matches under Andonovski. Lloyd’s most recent goal came on Jan. 5, 2020 at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium, scoring in the 55^th minute of the USA’s 2-0 win over England at Exploria Stadium to start the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.

• Megan Rapinoe will make her second start of the 2021 SheBelieves Cup earn her 173^rd cap for the USA tonight against Argentina. Rapinoe played 64 minutes against Canada on Feb. 18 and came off the bench on Feb. 21 against Brazil to play 19 minutes and scored the game-clinching goal on a brilliant volley, moving her to 172 caps. She is tied with Alex Morgan 17^th place on the USA’s all-time list. She now has 55 career goals, just one short of tying Carin Gabarra for 11^th all-time.

• Rapinoe’s goal against Brazil was her fifth career goal at the SheBelieves Cup, tying her with England’s Ellen White for the most in tournament history.

• The USA will dress 22 players for the match after midfielder Catarina Macario returned to France and Olympique Lyonnais in order to complete her government-mandated seven-day quarantine so she can be prepared and eligible to play in the club’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg match against Danish side Brøndby on March 4. Macario’s departure was previously agreed upon between OL and U.S. Soccer prior to the tournament.

• The only uncapped player in camp is goalkeeper Casey Murphy, while midfielder Jaelin Howell is also looking for her first game action of 2021.