United States women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski departed his final, official press conference prior to naming his 2023 World Cup roster with a familiar note: league form matters, and the next few months would determine who gets on the plane to New Zealand.
Roughly a dozen players are fighting for the final six or seven spots on the roster, he said. The subsequent three months of form in league play — chiefly, the National Women’s Soccer League — would determine who among that group makes the World Cup roster.
So, rather than writing and rewriting a mock roster each week, The Equalizer will be periodically tracking the form of players who ostensibly still have something to prove in this battle for a place at the World Cup. We will drill down on certain positions and players as warranted. There is no better place to start than the forward line, which took a dramatic turn recently, given the long-term injury sustained by Mallory Swanson, the team’s most in-form player in 2023.
First, let’s acknowledge the roster locks. There are…
