Follow live coverage of the USWNT at the 2024 Paris Olympics today
For the first time in a long time, it feels like the U.S. women’s national team truly has a fresh slate.
With longtime veterans Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn not on the 2024 roster, and younger stars Jaedyn Shaw and Trinity Rodman preparing to make their Olympic debuts, there is a sense that this tournament is truly a new group of players.
“(We’re) respecting our history, but then also trying to write a new story for this team,” defender Naomi Girma said before the team’s Olympic send-off matches. “Going into this tournament… that’s something that we’re really working on and we’re being intentional about: ‘What are we going to bring with us, and what do we need to change moving forward?’ I think it’s important for any team and program do that to continue being successful.”
However, there’s plenty of continuity from the old guard. Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, and Alyssa Naeher are only a few of the players who bring a thread of history and stability with them, reaching as far back as 2015, when Naeher was a backup goalkeeper at the World Cup. However, only seven of the players on the 2019 World Cup-winning roster are now at this Olympics in France. Without Morgan on…
