USWNT vs. Canada – 2023 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa

USWNT vs. Canada – 2023 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa
Date: February 16, 2023
Venue: Exploria Stadium; Orlando, Fla.
Broadcast: HBO Max, Universo and Peacock
Broadcast Time: 7 p.m. ET (Pre-game coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on HBO Max)
Official Kickoff Time: 7:07 p.m. ET

 

Starting XI vs. Canada: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 2-Ashley Sanchez, 3-Alana Cook, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 5-Trinity Rodman, 9-Mallory Swanson, 10-Lindsey Horan, 13-Alex Morgan (Capt.), 17-Andi Sullivan, 19-Crystal Dunn, 23-Emily Fox

Available Subs: 6-Lynn Williams, 7-Ashley Hatch, 8-Sofia Huerta, 11-Midge Purce, 12-Naomi Girma, 14-Emily Sonnett, 15-Megan Rapinoe, 16-Rose Lavelle, 18-Casey Murphy, 20-Taylor Kornieck, 21-Adrianna Franch, 22-Kristie Mewis

 

GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (Including this match): Sauerbrunn (213), Morgan (202), Dunn (129), Horan (124), Naeher (88), Swanson (85), Sullivan (40), Fox (25), Cook (22), Sanchez (20), Rodman (13)

• This Starting XI averages 86 caps per player with Sauerbrunn, Morgan, Dunn and Horan all over 100 caps. Five players – Sullivan, Fox, Cook, Sanchez and Rodman – enter the match with fewer than 50 caps.

• Eight players in tonight’s starting lineup – Naeher, Cook, Sauerbrunn, Swanson, Horan, Morgan, Sullivan and Fox – also started in the last meeting against Canada at the 2022 Concacaf W Championship final in Monterrey, Mexico.

• Alex Morgan, who will be honored prior to kickoff for earning her 200^th career cap on Nov. 13, 2022, will captain the USA as she is set to earn her 202^nd career cap. Morgan, who is one of just six active players in women’s international soccer with 200 or more caps, scored her 120^th international goal on Jan. 18 against New Zealand and is now just 10 goals away from tying her childhood idol Kristine Lilly on the USWNT’s all-time scoring charts. Thirteen of Morgan’s 120 career goals have come since giving birth to her daughter Charlie in May of 2020, tied with Joy Fawcett for the most goals scored as mother in USWNT history.

• Morgan has scored 10 goals in 14 career appearances against Canada, including converting the game-winning penalty in the Concacaf W Championship.

• Alyssa Naeher will make her second start of 2023 in what will also be her 88^th appearance all-time for the USWNT. Naeher ranks third in USWNT history with 51 career shutouts, eight of which have come during the SheBelieves Cup – a tournament record.

• Ashley Sanchez will earn her 20^th cap as she makes her eighth career start for the USWNT. Sanchez, who also started the USA’s Jan. 21 match in New Zealand, made her first career start against during the 2022 SheBelieves Cup and has appeared in all but three of the USA’s matches since the start of last year.

• Defender Alana Cook will make her 21^st career start as she earns her 20^th 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, her first substitute appearance ever for the USA, and followed it up with a 90-minute effort against the Football Ferns on Jan. 21.

• Becky Sauerbrunn, who enters this tournament having played more minutes than any other player in SheBelieves Cup history with 1,222 minutes of action, is set to make her second start of 2023 as she earns her 213^th cap overall. Sauerbunn made her international debut against Canada on Jan. 16, 2008, and will be playing her 17^th match overall against the USA’s neighbor to the north. The USA has recorded 12 wins, three draws and just one loss in Sauerbrunn’s 16 previous matchups against Canada.

• Nearly one year after making her international debut at the age of 19 at the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, Trinity Rodman will earn her 13^th cap for the USWNT as she makes her second consecutive and fourth career start for the USA. The now 20-year-old Rodman leads the USA with three assists in 2023, two of which came in the USA’s year-opening match against New Zealand where she became the youngest USWNT player since 2017 to have multiple assists in a game.

• Mallory Swanson will make her third start of 2023 as she earns her 85th cap for the USWNT. Swanson, who scored a career-best seven goals for the USA in 2022, will look to continue her stellar start to the year, scoring three goals in the USWNT’s first two games of 2023. Dating back to the USA’s Nov. 13 match against Germany, Swanson has now scored in three straight games for the USWNT, the second-longest streak of her international career.

• Lindsey Horan will earn her 124^th cap for the USWNT as she makes her second start of 2023. Horan, who did not appear in the USA’s Jan. 21 match in Auckland, having already returned to rejoin Lyon per an earlier agreement made between the club and U.S. Soccer, has played in 45 matches for the USA since the start of 2020 and has been directly involved in 22 goals during that span, totaling 14 goals and eight assists. She has two goals and two assists in eight career appearances against Canada.

• Andi Sullivan will earn her 40^th cap as she makes the 32^nd start of her international career and her second of 2023. Sullivan, who made her USWNT debut in 2016, finished third on the team with 1,126 total minutes played in 2022 – a career best.

• Defender Crystal Dunn will make her third consecutive start for the USWNT as she is set to earn her 129^th cap. Dunn, along with Swanson, is one of two players to start all three matches for the USWNT in 2023 and played 45 minutes in each of the USA’s January matches in New Zealand. The games Down Under marked her first starts for the USWNT since September 16, 2021, and first starts since giving birth to her son Marcel in May of 2022.

• Emily Fox, who started against Canada in the 2022 Concacaf W Championship, will earn her 29^th career cap as she makes her second start of 2023. Entering the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, Fox has played in 20 of the USA’s 24 matches since the October 2021 FIFA window, making 19 starts during that span.