New Zealand vs. USWNT – International Friendly
Date: January 21, 2023
Venue: Eden Park; Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand
Broadcast: HBO Max, Universo and Peacock
Broadcast Time: 4 p.m. NZT (10 p.m. ET on Jan. 20; Pre-game coverage at 9:30 p.m. ET on HBO Max)
Official Kickoff Time: 4:05 p.m. NZT (10:05 p.m. ET on Jan. 20)
Starting XI vs. New Zealand: 18-Casey Murphy; 2-Ashley Sanchez, 3-Alana Cook, 8-Sofia Huerta, 9-Mallory Swanson, 12-Naomi Girma, 13-Alex Morgan (Capt.), 16-Rose Lavelle, 17-Andi Sullivan, 19-Crystal Dunn, 25-Trinity Rodman
Available Subs: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 5-Hailie Mace, 6-Lynn Williams, 7-Ashley Hatch, 11-Midge Purce, 14-Emily Sonnett, 15-Sam Coffey, 20-Taylor Kornieck, 21-Adrianna Franch, 22-Kristie Mewis, 23-Emily Fox
GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
- USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (Including this match): Morgan (202), Dunn (128), Lavelle (86), Swanson (84), Sullivan (39), Huerta (27), Cook (21), Sanchez (19), Girma (12), Murphy (12), Rodman (12)
- The lineup in Auckland features six different players from the Starting XI deployed in the USA’s year-opening match in Wellington: Casey Murphy for Alyssa Naeher in goal, Alana Cook and Sofia Huerta on defense for Becky Sauerbrunn and Emily Fox, Andi Sullivan and Ashley Sanchez in the midfield for Taylor Kornieck and Lindsey Horan (who has returned to Lyon, France to play for her club this weekend), and Trinity Rodman for Midge Purce up top.
- This Starting XI averages 57 caps per player. Morgan and Dunn are the only players in the lineup with over 100 caps while four players – Sanchez, Girma, Murphy and Rodman – enter the match with fewer than 20 international appearances for the USWNT.
- Five of the six players who played a direct role in the USA’s four goals against the Football Ferns in the match in Wellington are in this starting lineup – Mallory Swanson (2 goals), Trinity Rodman (2 assists), Alex Morgan (1 goal), Rose Lavelle (1 assist) and Ashley Sanchez (1 assist). Lynn Williams, who scored the USA’s fourth and final goal, will start on the bench.
- Alex Morgan, who scored her 120th international goal in the Jan. 18 meeting against the Football Ferns, will earn her 202nd career cap as she captains the USA in Auckland. Morgan, whose goal in Wellington was her 13th since becoming a mother and tied her with Joy Fawcett for the most goals scored as mother in USWNT history, now has eight goals in nine career appearances against New Zealand.
- Casey Murphy will see her first action of the year she makes her 12th international appearance for the USA. Murphy, who record six shutouts in nine appearances in 2022, made her USWNT debut Down Under in Australia at the end of 2021, and recorded her first career shutout in her first cap on Nov. 27, 2021, in Sydney.
- Ashley Sanchez will earn her 19th cap as she makes her seventh career start for the USWNT. Sanchez assisted Swanson’s goal in the 63rd minute of the USA’s 4-0 win over the Ferns in Wellington, tallying the fourth assist of her career.
- Defender Alana Cook will make her 20th career start as she earns her 21st cap for the USA. Cook, who led the USWNT in total minutes played in 2022, came off the bench in the USWNT’s win over New Zealand on Jan. 18. It was her first-ever substitute appearance ever for the USA.
- Sofia Huerta is set to make her 15th start and 26th cap overall for the USWNT. Huerta will have now appeared in each of the last 17 games for the USA, a steak which dates back to the April 9 friendly vs. Uzbekistan and is tied with Rose Lavelle for the longest such active streak by any player on this roster.
- Coming off a two-goal performance to open the year against New Zealand, forward Mallory Swanson will earn her 84th career cap in Auckland. Swanson, who scored a career-high seven goals for the USA in 2022, registered her fourth career multi-goal with her brace in Wellington and upped her career goal-scoring tally to 27, good for 24th all-time in USWNT history.
- Naomi Girma will make her second consecutive start for the USA at center back as she earns her 12th cap for the USA. Girma, who made her senior National Team debut on April 12, 2022, will now have started six of the USA’s last seven games.
- Rose Lavelle will make her 86th international appearance and her 10th consecutive start for the USA. Lavelle tallied an assist on Alex Morgan’s goal in Wellington, giving her 18 career assists, 12 of which have come in her last 35 caps, a span which dates back to February of 2021.
- Midfielder Andi Sullivan will earn her 39th cap as she makes her first start of 2023 and the 31st start of her international career. Sullivan, who came on at halftime in the USA’s Jan. 18 win over the Football Ferns in Wellington, started all 15 games in which she appeared for the USA in 2022 and finished third on the team in total minutes played last year.
- Defender Crystal Dunn will make her second consecutive start for the USWNT as she is set to earn her 128th cap. Dunn played 45 minutes in Wellington as she made her first start for the USWNT since September 16, 2021, which also marked her first Stating XI for the USA since giving birth to her son Marcel in May of 2022.
- After tallying two assists in the USA’s 4-0 win over the Football Ferns in Wellington, forward Trinity Rodman will make her third career start as she earns her 12th cap overall for the USWNT. The 20-year-old Rodman, who started against England and Spain during the USA’s European Tour in October of 2022, became the youngest USWNT player since 2017 to have two assists in a single game with her two-assist effort against New Zealand on Jan. 18 in Wellington.
