Kristie Mewis plays a statement game for the USWNT as the clock ticks toward the World Cup

NASHVILLE — U.S. women’s soccer team manager Vlatko Andonovski has been clear throughout this month that he sees the SheBelieves Cup as a time for testing players and groups to see what will work at the World Cup.

But not every player involved in those tests is guaranteed a ticket to New Zealand this summer. If you’re one who knows you aren’t, or even if you just think you aren’t, right now is a big moment.

Seen through that lens, Kristie Mewis was one of the big winners in Sunday’s 1-0 U.S. win over Japan. The Gotham FC midfielder registered 83 touches, 61-of-67 passing, six tackles, three interceptions, nine defensive recoveries, and 10 duels won out of 12 contested in the taut contest.

Just as importantly, she was the only midfielder who played the entire game. Fellow starters Ashley Sanchez and Lindsey Horan were subbed out, the former in the 65th minute and the latter in the 85th; and on both occasions the style of the central trio changed.

» READ MORE: Mallory Swanson’s latest big goal carries the USWNT to a 1-0 win over Japan in the SheBelieves Cup

It was Mewis’ first full-game run for the national team since last Feb. 24, and Andonovski gave her a strong endorsement afterward.

“For Kristie to come in this game and constantly solve problems was really good for us, to see how she’s going to adjust in those moments,” he said. “But also, in possession I thought she was really good, clean, good touch on the ball. She connected very well with the players around her and did bring a little calmness on the team, which I thought was very important at different times of the game.”

Mewis wasn’t perfect, on a day when no U.S. player was. Even Mallory Swanson, scorer of the terrific winning goal, was offside three times before then — and confessed that Andonovski gave her a few words about it.

But Mewis’ passing — a completion rate of better than 90% in each half — is a big deal for a deep central midfielder in Andonovski’s system. And there was a big defensive play in the 56th minute, an interception in the open field after an Alana Cook giveaway in dangerous territory.

“I was definitely playing more of a defensive role as the 6, so I definitely had to turn my brain on for that,” the 31-year-old Massachussetts native said. “But I just want to be reliable in any midfield position, and be what the team needs at any point in time. So if I have to be a more defensive role and kind of turn that side of me on, I definitely want to be able to do that.”

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As Mewis hinted at there, a purely defensive position is not her natural one. She’s better in a two-way role, next to or slightly in front of an anchor. She can be versatile, and that versatility is a big reason why she earned a place on the 2021 Olympic team.

“I think I moved the ball well,” Mewis said. “I want to be able to play the ball forward a little bit more. But overall, I think it was OK.”

She is not, though, the kind of attacking force that Sanchez and Rose Lavelle are, for example. (The kind that Gotham didn’t play with last year, it should be said, hurting the team and Mewis’ national team stock.)

Nor was the purpose of Mewis’ start Sunday to make her a regular starter. There was much rotation in the U.S. lineup, including Mewis starting for Andi Sullivan; and Lavelle has missed the first two SheBelieves Cup games with an injury picked up in practice a few days ago.

That’s two-thirds of the A-squad midfield, along with Horan.

The purpose was to see how Mewis would combine with Horan, and later Sullivan, offensively against Japan’s pressure and defensively against the Nadeshiko’s elite passing and possession game.

» READ MORE: Amid months of questions, Andi Sullivan and Lindsey Horan are helping the USWNT midfield offer answers

“There was a lot of combinations, but I think it’s a strength,” Mewis said. “We have this over other teams, where we can throw a bunch of people in. But now it’s just about, every time a sub comes on or we switch something, it has to be perfect — we have to just make it work, there can’t be any room for confusion.”

She understood the assignment.

“I do feel really good playing with Lindsey,” Mewis said. “I feel like we kind of play off of each other, I kind of know what she’s thinking, and I just try to get her the ball as much as I possibly can. So I really liked that combination.”

She called Sullivan “a beast in there. When she comes in and plays next to me, it’s incredible, because she sets the tempo and is so aggressive, and she wins every single ball.”

Sullivan will presumably return to the lineup for Wednesday’s SheBelieves Cup finale against Brazil (7 p.m., TNT, Universo, HBO Max, Peacock). Horan will presumably start too, as she almost always does, even though she has played all but a handful of the tournament’s minutes so far.

So if Mewis plays, it will likely be as a substitute, as she was for the last 29 minutes of the tournament opener against Canada.

But two years after Mewis made a gritty charge to earn a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, she seems to be repeating the feat now.

» READ MORE: In Lynn Williams, Gotham FC signed not just a needed scorer, but a needed winner