Since Denmark has already named a roster, I thought we'd go ahead and get a thread started. The USWNT will host Denmark on Jan. 21 in their first friendly of 2018. The match will be in San Diego at 4:30 PT. It'll be televised on ESPN. The Danish 20-player roster: Goalkeepers (2): Line Geltzer Johansen, Stina Lykke Petersen Defenders (6): Cecilie Sandvej, Janni Arnth Jensen, Mie Leth Jans, Simone Boye Sørensen, Stine Ballisager Pedersen, Theresa Nielsen Midfielders (7): Katrine Veje, Maja Kildemoes, Nanna Christiansen, Nicole Sørensen, Sanne Troelsgaard, Sarah Dyrehauge Hansen, Sofie Junge Pedersen Forwards (5): Frederikke Skjødt Thøgersen, Nadia Nadim, Pernille Harder, Signe Bruun, Stine Larsen The team will be playing under the direction of new Danish head coach Lars Søndergaard.
811 hours early - - which is well within the 1,000 hour restriction. Love, love, love the San Diego Match in the 3rd week of January concept. Permanently affix it to the USWNT January Calendar in future years. Limited meteorological risk, wonderful travel destination, great crowds and most importantly, avoidance of the potential 100+ day Match drought before She Believes - which is agonizing for most of us.
Heath, Lavelle, Mewis r injured. Klingenberg & Sonnett back. McCaskell and Davidson plus the usual suspects.
Camp starts Jan. 6 and ends with the game against Denmark. 18 will be named to the game day roster from the group of 26 called into camp. Lavelle will be in camp to do rehab. Also the FIFA window is only Jan. 15-23. I wonder if Dunn and/or Brian are coming in late.
Its probably worthwhile to note that January camp overlaps with the U23 WNT camp (Jan. 4-11). They're both at the NTC, so I wouldn't be surprised to if there are some scrimmages between the two teams plus possibly some U23's jumping into training with the senior team.
4 goalkeepers for 1 friendly? At some point Jill is going to have to narrow it down to 2 main keepers, and I don't think Harris or Naeher are the answers.
I look fwd more to this game instead of the SBC cause all 3 of the opposing teams are currently in a bit of a disarray & the Danes feature who in my book is the best player in the world, Pernille Harder. What I like about Pernille is that no matter how many times you dispossess the ball from her, she comes right back at ya!(sorta like the Ever ready battery). Her brute, physicality makes her move like a Sherman tank & can be a bit selfish with the ball, but in a good way(since her team mates obviously don't have the same skill level). On the negative side, don't think she's got much chemistry with the other known Dane, Nadim. Here's a vid on her vs Croatia in recent WC qualifiers/ Obviously not an strong opponent, but be interesting to see how the US is going to slow her down another to keep an eye on is the DM; Katrine Veje. She's excellent on getting the ball out of the defensive end, an even more important role vs the high pressing USA. If she can do her job effectively, then I can see the Danes either winning or tying this game(but then again, not sure if their new coach will keep the diamond formation as previously)
While you are waiting ... here is the official Danish Women's Euro 2017 music video, performed by Danish stand-up comedian Molly Thornhill. It's a Danish FA tradition that both the men and women NT players get to pick a Danish band, singer-songwriter or in this case a comedian, to write an official song when they manage to qualify for a WC or the Euro finals ...
Camp started with the beep test. From this tweet, it looks like Kelley O'Hara dominated the test again. I believe that's Huerta that was running with O'Hara towards the end. Underway in LA with what else? The good ol’ beep test!Come inside the lines & 👏 cheer loudly 👏 as this 🖲 test ends and 2018 officially begins. pic.twitter.com/8oBvEemvUu— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) January 8, 2018
From Instagram, one of those answered: Dunn is in camp. But I'm guessing that Brian is still in Lyon.
...was there a rumour that dunn had something written into her contract re leaving if ussoccer called?
For some reason, I want to say it was more than a rumor and that there were actual allusions to something like that in quotes from Dunn, but I can't find them now and my memory is not what it should be. So yeah, it may be just a rumor, but I remember something about that, too.
I remember Dunn addressing that as well but then she wasn't released for Canada. This is a tough stretch for Chelsea with Man City the next fixture in a cup semi. Jan camp on the other hand is more to shake the rust off which Dunn shouldn't have playing in a Winter league.
Sauerbrunn and Brian have been ruled out of the rest of Jan Camp due to injury and Davidson is headed to U20 WCQ so it looks like a CB pairing of Dahlkemper and either Short or Sonnett for Denmark
Development-wise, this injury to Becky is a helpful thing. We will see how adept Dahlkemper/Sonnett/Short are at organizing a backline by themselves. Even with a center back leaving camp injured, Menges can't get a look. I'm not putting my money on Brian, Heath or Lavelle being healthy for the next major tournament.
Sauerbrunn's injury is a stress reaction to her foot. Its one of those things that initially you can play with, but will inevitably become worse, even possibly a stress fracture, if you don't rest it. It'll heal itself with a few weeks off. Brian is not re-injured. She's just staying in Lyon to continue to train and get fit there. Both decisions are for the best as far as the long-term health of each player. Heath I'm not as worried about either. She had a clean-up surgery, which usually helps. But I do wonder about Lavelle; she has not yet demonstrated a "sturdiness" to compete consistently at the professional level. I'm also a bit surprised that Ellis is not calling in any other players for camp. January camp is usually a bigger camp to call in anyone who's on the fringe. The experimentation period really must be over.
Ellis is too busy working on the list of excuses how she managed to lose to Denmark to be putting any actual time into the roster.