Julie Ertz is grateful for a chance to return to the USWNT, even if the timing is awkward

“I don’t want to go back and be the player that I was, because I want to be better,” Ertz said of being back with the U.S. women's soccer team after nearly two years out of action.

Julie Ertz on the bronze medal podium at the 2021 Olympics, the last time she officially suited up for the U.S. women's soccer team.Read moreNaomi Baker / Getty Images

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published April 4, 2023, 6:08 p.m. ET

No one knows better than Julie Ertz how long it’s been since she last played an official soccer game: over 600 days, dating back to the bronze medal game of the 2021 Olympics.

And she is equally aware of the burden of proof she faces in her out-of-nowhere return to the U.S. women’s national team for its last games before the World Cup team is named this summer.

“I’m grateful for anybody that believes that I can make an impact,” Ertz said in a news conference Tuesday from the Americans’ training camp in Austin, Texas. “I know my past successes with the team, individually and collectively, have probably [generated] questions — I’m sure that’s probably why I am back.”

There’s no doubt about that. U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski clearly wanted Ertz to return to boost the team’s defensive midfield chops, and he visited her post-childbirth training sessions to set the stage.

“I’ve been in really good conversations with Vlatko [about] what they’ve been looking at, what they’ve been trying to do,” Ertz said. “It’s been fun listening to what he sees and allowing me to ask questions, and it’s kind of been a fun — I don’t want to say challenge, because it’s not, I wouldn’t say, a challenge. It’s just a different way, obviously, of approach. But at the same time, the same, because when it comes to a World Cup time, it’s all about details.”

Though Ertz couldn’t be at camps in person, there was a lot of film to study, and she took it all in.

“I don’t want to go back and be the player that I was, because I want to be better,” she said. “I know that seems weird being out long. ... I don’t feel like I’ve been gone as long as I have, but I feel good. I love the sport differently than I did then. And I thought I loved it then, but taking a step away and having a new perspective has given me kind of, like, a new drive.”

She credited her husband, Zach, the former Eagles star tight end now with the Arizona Cardinals, for being “unbelievably supportive” along the way.

“There definitely was a switch [that went off] when I had a really long conversation with Zach,” she said. “And I think when you have two athletes — probably closer toward not-the-beginning of their career, I would say — it’s emotional. It’s emotional conversations, but also very touching, and real, and raw.”

‘It’s hard to just be complacent’

Ertz clearly took her time in all of this. Not only was there pregnancy and childbirth, but, before then, there were injuries that cut her 2021 campaign short. She made it clear Tuesday that she didn’t want to resume playing until she was fully ready, as awkward as the timing of her return is.

“Coming back from pregnancy changes things — obviously, your body,” she said. “So I just wanted to make sure when I was coming back that I felt like I was strong enough to be able to feel like I could be myself.”

As happy as Ertz is to be back with the national team, she knows her presence comes with a big condition: She must sign with a club team so she can get regular playing time before the World Cup.

“I’m in communications with a few teams — hopefully finalizing them soon,” she said. “Trying to stay focused on the games coming up, but also knowing that I need a club team. So, hopefully, I have an answer for you soon.”

And which teams might those be?

“I knew you were going to ask that,” she said with a laugh. “You’ll find out.”

For as much as women’s soccer has grown and evolved in Ertz’s nearly two years off the field, she believes some of its roots remain the same.

“The game continuously adapts; your opponents constantly get better,” she said. “I’m proud of the player that I have been able to be, but at the same time, it’s hard to just be complacent. … It’s just not in this team’s DNA to do that, and it trickles off to every individual here.”