Lineup Notes: USA and China PR Meet in Utah

Lineup Notes: USA and China PR Meet in Utah

USA vs. China PR
Date: June 7, 2018
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
Broadcast: FS1, UDN
Kickoff: 7 p.m. MT / 9 p.m. ET

Today’s Starting XI vs. China PR: 1-Alyssa Naeher; 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 7-Abby Dahlkemper, 12-Tierna Davidson, 19-Crystal Dunn; 2-Julie Ertz, 9-Lindsey Horan, 25-McCall Zerboni; 26-Savannah McCaskill, 13-Alex Morgan (capt.), 15-Megan Rapinoe

Subs: 3-Samantha Mewis, 6-Morgan Brian, 8-Amy Rodriguez, 10-Carli Lloyd, 14-Sofia Huerta, 20-Allie Long, 21-Abby Smith, 23-Christen Press, 27-Merritt Mathias

Team

• Tierna Davidson, Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe are the only four players on the U.S. roster to start every game so far in 2018.
• The USA is 5-0-1 so far in 2018, with wins over Denmark, Germany, England and Mexico (twice), along with a tie against France.
• The USA is unbeaten in its last 14 matches (12-0-2). The USA has outscored its opponents 46-12 over those 14 matches, and have scored in all 14 games.
• The two goals allowed on corner kicks against Mexico on April 8 broke a streak of not allowing more than one goal in a game in the last 12 games. The USA has gone 11-0-2 during that run, and has scored at least three goals in nine of those 13 games. The match before the 12-game run was the 4-3 win against Brazil at the 2017 Tournament of Nations and the 6-2 win vs. Mexico ended it.
• Amy Rodriguez made her NWSL debut this year on April 14, 2018 after missing almost two full club seasons. During the her last WNT camp in 2017, she came back from the birth of her second son, playing 10 minutes against Russia on April 6, but then tore her ACL in the NWSL opener and missed the entire season. Rodriguez, who has 30 goals in her 130 caps, which include several notable scores in U.S. history, was a member of the 2015 Women’s World Cup champions, the 2012 Olympic gold medal team, and played in the 2011 Women’s World Cup. 
• Goalkeeper Abby Smith and defender Merritt Mathias will start on the bench and will have an opportunity to earn a first cap tonight.
• Three members of Utah Royals FC will be hoping to see minutes in their home stadium in defender Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Rodriguez and goalkeeper Smith.
• Not dressing tonight are Casey Murphy (GK), Tobin Heath (F), Ashlyn Harris (GK) and Rose Lavelle (MF).

Starting Lineup

• Alyssa Naeher will earn her 29th cap tonight, after earning 13 in 2017. She is the seventh goalkeeper in U.S. history to earn 25 or more caps. She’s allowed 14 goals in her 28 caps, but six came over two games, a 3-0 loss to France at the 2017 SheBelieves Cup and vs. Brazil in the 4-3 win at the 2017 Tournament of Nations. She has 14 career shutouts.
  
  
• Becky Sauerbrunn maker her second consecutive start in 2018 after starting against Mexico on April 8. She came off the bench against Mexico on April 5, the first time she had come on as a substitute since March 10, 2014 vs. Denmark. Sauerbrunn was sidelined for the WNT’s January Camp and SheBelieves Cup due to a foot injury.

• Abby Dahlkemper ended up starting 10 of the 11 games she appeared in 2017 while playing 945 minutes, fifth best on the team. She started the first match of the year against Denmark on Jan. 21 next to debutante Tierna Davidson and the duo also went the full 90 together on March 1 against Germany, March 4 vs. France, March 7 against England. She also went 90 on April 5 against Mexico before getting a rest on April 8. Dahlkemper will earn her 19th WNT cap tonight and make her sixth start of the year.

• Crystal Dunn will earn her 62nd cap tonight and makes her fourth consecutive start in 2018. Before her start on March 7 against England, Dunn hadn’t started since July 30, 2017 against Brazil at the Tournament of Nations. She will once again start tonight’s game as an outside back, a position she played during the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, and at the beginning of her senior WNT career. She also played in the back line against England during the SheBelieves Cup and vs. Mexico on April 5 and April 8. She also spent considerable time at wing back while playing for Chelsea.
  
  
• Tierna Davidson is making her seventh consecutive start in as many international appearances. On Jan. 21 in San Diego, she became the 21st woman to make a WNT debut under Jill Ellis. She earned her first career assist on that game. The 19-year-old Davidson helped lead Stanford to the NCAA Championship this past season. She is the third teenager since 2013 to earn a first cap for the U.S. WNT. Mallory Pugh (17 in 2016) and Lindsey Horan (19 in 2013) are the most recent teenagers to debut for the WNT.
  
  
• Julie Ertz returns to the roster after missing the final two SheBelieves Cup games and both Mexico games in April due to a knee injury. She will earn her 60th cap tonight and has 15 international goals to her name. The 2017 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year got 2018 off to a great start, scoring the game-winner on Jan. 21 vs. Denmark, before the knee injury set her back a bit.
  
  
• Lindsey Horan earns her 50th cap today. Horan played the full 90 minutes against Mexico on April 5 and set up two critical goals – for Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd – that blew the game open early in the second half. It was her third career multi-assists game. She started on April 8 against Mexico, and scored her fifth career goal, drilling home a brilliant header off a corner kick.

• McCall Zerboni, long one of the top midfielders in the NWSL, will earn her second cap and first career start for the U.S. WNT. She was called in as an injury replacement for the USA’s match against Korea Republic in Cary, N.C. in October of 2017 and earned her first cap when she entered the match at halftime. Zerboni, who was just a few months shy of her 31st birthday when she debuted, became the oldest player to earn a first cap for the U.S. WNT.

• Savannah McCaskill , who was taken second overall in the 2018 NWSL College Draft by the Boston Breakers and then was picked by Sky Blue FC in the Dispersal Draft, has worked herself into consistent call-ups with the WNT this year. She will make her first career start tonight, in what will be her sixth cap. McCaskill made the game roster for the Jan. 21 match against Denmark and earned her first cap when she came into the game in the 70th minute for Andi Sullivan.
  
  
• Alex Morgan comes into the match with 85 goals and will earn her 141st cap tonight. At age 28, she sits in sole possession of seventh place on the USA's all-time goal scoring list. She’s scored 12 goals over her last 13 WNT matches, with her two most recent ones against Mexico on April 8. The brace was the 19th of her career, and her 22nd multi-goal game. For players with more than 50 goals/assists combined, Morgan has averaged a goal or an assist for every 70.0 minutes on the field in her international career. The only player to have done better is Mia Hamm (68.5). Abby Wambach averaged a goal or assist for every 71.5 minutes and Michelle Akers finished her career at 74.0 minutes per goal or assist.
  
  
• Megan Rapinoe makes her 136th international appearance today. She has 36 career goals after scoring against Mexico on April 8. She has moved ahead of April Heinrichs and Sydney Leroux into sole possession of 15th on the all-time goals list. She leads the USA with five assists on the year and now has 49 for her career, one behind Carli Lloyd and good for ninth in U.S. history. Rapinoe had a monster game on April 8 vs. Mexico, getting four assists and a goal while also setting up the other goal in the match. Rapinoe’s 49 assists in 135 caps is the best assist to games ratio of anyone ahead of her on the all-time list except for Mia Hamm, who had a remarkable 145 assists in her 276 caps.