2020 Tokyo Olympics: USA vs. Australia - Starting XI, Lineup Notes, TV Channels & Start Time

2020 Tokyo Olympics – Group G
Date: July 27, 2021
Venue: Ibaraki Kashima Stadium; Kashima, Japan
Broadcast: USA, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com, Telemundo Deportes App
Broadcast Time: 4:00 a.m. ET
Official Kickoff Time: 4:00 a.m. ET

Starting XI vs. Australia: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (Capt.), 12-Tierna Davidson, 2-Crystal Dunn; 8-Julie Ertz, 16-Rose Lavelle, 3-Samantha Mewis; 11-Christen Press, 13-Alex Morgan, 15-Megan Rapinoe

Available Subs: 6-Kristie Mewis, 7-Tobin Heath, 9-Lindsey Horan, 10-Carli Lloyd, 18-Adrianna Franch, 20-Casey Krueger, 21-Lynn Williams

GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW – AUSTRALIA

• U.S. WNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Sauerbrunn (190), Morgan (183), Rapinoe (182), Christen Press (152), Kelley O’Hara (142), Dunn (119), Ertz (113), Samantha Mewis (80), Naeher (76), Lavelle (59), Davidson (37)

• Today’s Starting XI is the third different starting lineup deployed by head coach Vlatko Andonovski during the Group Stage and features five different players from the starting lineup that faced New Zealand on July 24: O’Hara and Sauerbrunn for Sonnett and Dahlkemper on defense, Samantha Mewis for Lindsey Horan in the midfield, and Press and Morgan for Heath and Lloyd in the forward line.

• Five of the players in tonight’s Starting XI saw time against Australia in the most recent world championship meeting between the teams at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Ertz, Press, Rapinoe and Sauerbrunn all started the match with Rapinoe (two goals) and Press accounting for all three goals in the USA’s 3-1 victory to open the tournament. Morgan came on as a second-half substitute.
  
  
• With her inclusion in today’s match day roster, Lynn Williams is now officially deemed and Olympian by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a status now achieved by all 22 players on the USA’s Olympic roster.
  
  
• Today’s Starting XI vs. Australia has an average of 121 caps per player with seven players with 100+ international appearances.
  
  
• After a well-deserved rest against New Zealand, Becky Sauerbrunn returns to the starting lineup to captain the side in her 190^th career cap. Sauerbrunn, who ranks 14^th in USWNT history in international appearances, is tied for the second-most minutes on the team in 2021 with 990 minutes of action.
  
  
• Alyssa Naeher will make her third consecutive start at the Olympics as she earns her 76^th career cap for the USWNT. The fourth goalkeeper to represent the USWNT in an Olympic match, Naeher made six saves in the USWNT’s opening match against Sweden, followed by a two save effort against New Zealand on July 24.
  
  
• Kelley O’Hara returns to the starting XI to make her second start of these 2020 Games and her 12^th Olympic appearance overall. A three-time Olympian, O’Hara has appeared in all but one of the Olympic matches the USA has played since the start of the 2012 Olympics in Tokyo, only sitting out the July 24 matchup against New Zealand.
  
  
• Twenty-two-year-old Tierna Davidson will make her second start of the 2020 Olympics, following up a fine 90-minute effort against New Zealand in the second group stage game. This will be the 37^th career cap for Davidson and her third appearance overall at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
  
  
• Crystal Dunn will make her 119^th international appearance for the USWNT and her sixth appearance overall in an Olympic match. Along with Alyssa Naeher and Rose Lavelle, Dunn is one of only three players to start every match for the USA at the 2020 Olympics. Dunn played in all four of the USA’s matches at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, making two starts and tallying both a goal and an assist in the final match of the group stage against Colombia.
  
  
• Julie Ertz will make her second consecutive start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and her third appearance of the Olympic Games. A two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympian, Ertz started the first six games of the year for the USA before suffering an injury in the first match of the NWSL season, but is now back to health and set to earn her 113^th cap.
  
  
• Rose Lavelle will make her third consecutive Olympic start as she earns her 59^th career cap for the USWNT. Lavelle scored her first Olympic goal and the USA’s first goal of Tokyo 2020 in the ninth minute of the USWNT’s 6-1 win over New Zealand on 6-1. With her strike against the Football Ferns, Lavelle – who won the Bronze Ball at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup – has now scored four of her 15 international goals at world championship events: one at the 2020 Olympics and three at the 2019 World Cup (two vs Thailand and on vs the Netherlands).
  
  
• Christen Press will make her second start of the 2020 Olympics as she makes her 152^nd international appearance. With a goal and an assist in the July 24 win over New Zealand, Press continues her stellar run of form and has now scored or assisted in 18 of her last 23 games for the USA. Since the start of 2019, Press leads the USWNT with 20 assists and is tied for second in scoring with 18 goals over that span.
  
  
• Alex Morgan will earn her 183^rd international appearance and make her second start of the 2020 Olympics, coming off a second-half substitute appearance against New Zealand in which she scored her first goal of the 2020 Olympics. Morgan now has six career Olympic goals, good for third in USWNT history, and has scored four times previously against Brazil, including her historic 100th career goal on April 4, 2019, in the USA’s most recent matchup against the Matildas.
  
  
• Megan Rapinoe will earn her 182^nd career cap and make her 11^th appearance and 9^th start overall at the Olympics. Rapinoe leads the USA in scoring in 2021 with seven goals and has three goals and four assists in her previous ten Olympic matches. Rapinoe has three career goals against Australia including a brace against the Matildas in the group stage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.