U.S. women's national soccer team sets roster for SheBelieves Cup

After a few days of training in Orlando, U.S. women's soccer team head coach Jill Ellis has confirmed a 23-player roster for the SheBelieves Cup, which begins March 1 at Talen Energy Stadium:

Goalkeepers (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (6): Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride), Kelley O'Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns)

Midfielders (8): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns), Rose Lavelle (Boston Breakers), Carli Lloyd (Manchester City), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Samantha Mewis (NC Courage), Brianna Pinto (no pro or college team)

Forwards (6): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea/England), Jessica McDonald (North Carolina Courage), Alex Morgan (Lyon/France), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (UCLA), Lynn Williams (North Carolina Courage)

Jessica McDonald is an addition to the squad who was not part of the original training camp roster. Three players who were in camp are not on the tournament squad: defender Meghan Klingenberg, midfielder Sarah Killion and forward Amy Rodriguez.

Klingenberg was in her first national team camp since October after battling a back injury; Rodriguez was in camp for just the second time since the birth of her second son in July.

Ellis talked about those moves in this article on the U.S. Soccer Federatiton's website:

For Meghan, the message was 'you're not quite ready'. She's been battling an injury, she's been out from all physical activity for a long time and I certainly wanted to bring her in and have a look at her and see where she's at, but Meghan and I both understand that right now she's not ready to jump into that intense 90-minute environment. She's working her way back and the Thorns will be a great platform where she can build herself back up.

With Amy, again, making sure we give these players an evaluation is important. I think A-Rod in truth, is further ahead of where I thought she'd be after a year off. Not only is Amy playing her way back, but she is also processing a lot of new information from the end of the World Cup until now. The messaging was similar, keep progressing and return to your club environment and be ready to get after it in your pre-season.

What I said to Sarah was that I was specifically looking at players that play her position, and digging a little deeper into that process meant taking another look at her. She is definitely someone we will continue to monitor. Sharpening up her speed of play is going to be a focus for her, but for sure, being in this environment has helped her understand the demands and pace of the international level.

Jess was close to joining us in this camp, but I felt that I wanted to have another look at A-Rod here. I wanted to have this camp be smaller (in roster numbers) so we could really focus and get players on the field in an 11 aside game and not rotating. Jess is 90-minutes fit and she is a player that can give us a spark off the bench.

Evaluating where A-Rod was at this point, and with the reality that Alex (Morgan) took a knock in France, it made it important that we have coverage in that central position. We have Lynn (Williams), (Christen) Press and Alex as pure 9s, and we felt that we needed another central player that could provide that for us.

Dunn and Morgan have not been in camp yet due to commitments with their European clubs. They will come over this weekend. Morgan's injury, I'm told, is a minor ankle thing that is not expected to be much of a big deal. She'll be evaluated officially when she gets to camp.

Perhaps the most notable inclusion is Brianna Pinto, a defensive midfielder who's just 16 years old. The Durham, N.C., native played for the U.S. at last year's under-17 Women's World Cup and was part of the under-23 team's January training camp. Ellis said Pinto has earned her place with the senior squad:

I think with Brianna, part of it is that you have to make sure that a player can help immediately, but also ask yourself, what do you see potentially in this player? And what I see in her is someone that already from a January Camp until now is getting more comfortable, is answering questions in meetings and asking questions on the field.

She's someone that is fully engaged, and in the match against the boys, she showed she is a player who wants the ball, and those are some special qualities. Giving her the exposure and experience of being in SheBelieves, which is a big tournament, is a massive investment.

Couple that with the fact that with Andi Sullivan getting injured (last fall during the college season), we have less availability in pure 6s. My commitment is to look at Allie (Long) in the role we've been playing her in [centerback], so what Brianna gives us is more cover in that central midfielder position.

The U.S. team will arrive in Philadelphia early next week, then train in Chester on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's game against Germany (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1).

Click here for the full SheBelieves Cup schedule.

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