Sam Mewis has not played in a soccer match since she suited up for the U.S. women’s national team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The prospect of her return — to the USWNT and to the sport — remains a question mark, coach Vlatko Andonovski told reporters ahead of the team’s two friendlies in New Zealand this week.
“At this point I don’t want to guess what the time is or if she is going to be back at all,” Andonovski said Tuesday.
The star midfielder received her first call-up to the senior national team in 2014. By 2018, she had established herself as a mainstay on the roster, and she excelled for the 2019 World Cup-winning squad.
But Mewis last took the field in the USWNT’s bronze-medal match against Australia in August 2021. She underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee later that month, with an anticipated recovery time of eight weeks.
More than 16 months later, the USWNT is gearing up for another major tournament. But Mewis remains on the sidelines.
“With Sam, it’s a long-term injury and at this point, you know, we probably would not go into details for that,” said Andonovski, per a transcript from Australian Associated Press reporter Ben McKay.
In the NWSL, Mewis features on the Kansas City Current…
