Lynn Williams, Midge Purce return to USWNT for this month’s trip to New Zealand

The U.S. women’s soccer team has welcomed back two important attackers and a veteran defender for its trip to New Zealand this month.

Forward Lynn Williams returns to action after missing almost all of last year because of a major hamstring injury she suffered on March 18, in the opening game of the Kansas City Current’s NWSL Challenge Cup campaign.

“She’s good to go,” U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski said in a news conference Thursday after announcing the roster. “I think that this camp is a good opportunity to see how she’s going to integrate back with the team.”

The other returning forward, Gotham FC’s Midge Purce, rejoins the squad after not being called up last October or November due to what Andonovski said at the time was “a dip in her form.” On Thursday, Andonovski said he and the coaching staff met with Purce and cleared the air.

» READ MORE: The USWNT will play in New Zealand in January, six months before playing in the World Cup there

“Just because she wasn’t in the camp doesn’t mean that she’s not a good player,” he said. “We wanted to be fair to her and give her a fair chance to get back on the team.”

On the back line, Emily Sonnett hasn’t played since June for her country or her club, the Washington Spirit, because of a foot injury. The Spirit put her on the season-ending injury list in late August. Now she’s ready to go again.

The U.S.’ overall injury list is still long, and it has some new members. Along with long-term absentees including Catarina Macario, Sam Mewis, Tierna Davidson and Christen Press, Sophia Smith won’t go to New Zealand because of a foot injury and Megan Rapinoe is out with an ankle injury.

It’s not known when Smith suffered the foot injury, but its existence was revealed a few weeks ago by her agent. Andonovski said Smith got treatment for the matter last month, and is in “light training” now.

“It’s not a serious injury, and in fact it’s something that has been bothering her for a longer time,” he said. “We felt like this was the time that we want to fix this and not have any problems going forward.”

» READ MORE: Soccer wishes for 2023 for the USWNT, USMNT, Union, and more

Andonovski had said in October that he hoped Davidson, a marquee young centerback who suffered a torn ACL in late March, would be able to make this trip.

On Thursday, he said Davidson and Kelley O’Hara are “very close” to returning, but not ready yet; and Macario is “in line to be on the field in contact play, probably, in about four to five weeks.”

A notable absence of Andonovski’s choice is striker Mia Fishel, who scored 33 goals in the 2022 calendar year for Mexican club Tigres. It’s a big haul, but the Mexican league’s level isn’t as high as other leagues worldwide.

“We’re very familiar with her qualities, but right now, after looking at everything, we decided the forwards that we have in camp are going to give us the best chance to be successful,” said Andonovski, who took multiple questions about Fishel and has taken them for a few months.

“For Mia, it doesn’t matter where she plays,” he said. “It matters first what she does, but also in comparison with the players that she’s competing [with] for her spot.”

The U.S. women’s team holds a January gathering every year, but it’s usually on home soil. This time, the program is going to the country where it will be based for this summer’s World Cup.

It’s the first time the Americans are playing the Football Ferns on their turf, after 19 games in the U.S. over the years — including in last year’s SheBelieves Cup.

The opener of the two-game set will be at the 34,500-seat Sky Stadium in Wellington, kicking off at 10 p.m. Philadelphia time on Jan. 17.

The second game will be at Eden Park, the 50,000-seat national stadium in Auckland that’s famously the home of the nation’s superpower men’s rugby team. It will be the first time New Zealand’s women’s soccer team plays there. Kickoff is set for 10 p.m. on Jan. 20.

The U.S. will return to both venues during this summer’s World Cup, which New Zealand will co-host with Australia. Eden Park will host the Americans’ first and third group stage games, respectively against Vietnam and a qualifier from the upcoming inter-continental playoffs: Cameroon, Portugal or Thailand.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia is out of the NWSL’s latest expansion round

Sky Stadium will host the second group stage game, a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final against the Netherlands. The venue will be called Wellington Regional Stadium during the tournament, because FIFA doesn’t allow local sponsor names on venues during its events. (Keep that in mind for when FIFA picks another name for Lincoln Financial Field in 2026.)

The U.S. could play in both venues during the knockout rounds too, if it wins its group. The bracket path sets up a quarterfinal in Wellington and a semifinal in Auckland. Only two games would be in Australia: the round of 16 game in Sydney and the final in Sydney or third-place game in Brisbane.

American fans will also see different uses of the host cities’ names. FIFA and the local World Cup organizers in both countries are using their cities’ Western and indigenous titles. So for example, Wellington is listed as Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara, and Auckland is Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau.

» READ MORE: The U.S. women’s soccer team will host Canada, Brazil and Japan in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup

Both games of this trip will be broadcast exclusively on streaming platform HBO Max. The platform’s corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, just started an eight-year deal for all national team games that the U.S. Soccer Federation owns the rights to.

Some games will also be televised on cable channel TNT, but not these two. On the 17th, TNT has the 76ers’ visit to the Los Angeles Clippers. On the 20th, there’s an All Elite Wrestling show.

Goalkeepers (3): Adrianna Franch (Kansas City Current), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (8): Alana Cook (OL Reign), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville), Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns FC), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Hailie Mace (Kansas City Current), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns), Emily Sonnett (Washington Spirit)

Midfielders (7): Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Lindsey Horan (Lyon, France), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego Wave), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (Gotham FC), Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit)

Forwards (6): Ashley Hatch (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave), Midge Purce (Gotham FC), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars), Lynn Williams (Kansas City Current)