The USWNT will begin a rare three-game series against the same opponent when it takes on Japan on April 11 in San Jose, Calif. at PayPal Park (2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. TNT, truTV and HBOMax in English and Universo and Peacock in Spanish). This match is being presented by The Home Depot. This is the ninth time the USWNT has faced a team three consecutive times in its 40-year existence. The USA will then play Japan for a second time on Tuesday, April 14, at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (7 p.m. PT on TNT, truTV and HBOMax in English, Universo and Peacock in Spanish) in a match presented by Allstate, before finishing the series on Friday, April 17, at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. (7 p.m. MT on TNT, truTV and HBOMax in English, Universo and Peacock in Spanish). All three matches will also be available in English on the radio on Westwood One. Japan is fresh off a triumphant run at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia where the Nadeshiko outscored its opposition 29-1 (the only goal allowed was to South Korea in a 4-1 semifinal victory) and impressively beat the Matildas, 1-0, in the title game in front of 74,397 fans at Stadium Australia, one of the more impressive feats in international soccer since the last FIFA Women’s World Cup.
U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position (Club; Caps/Goals)
2026 April Matches vs. Japan
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash, 10), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC; 8), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United, ENG; 6)
DEFENDERS (9): Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC; 67/3), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG; 74/1), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC, ENG; 52/2), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash; 10/1), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC; 7/0), Emily Sams (Angel City FC: 9/1), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC; 115/2), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; 7/0), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave FC; 4/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Sam Coffey (Manchester City, ENG; 44/5), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes, FRA; 173/39), Claire Hutton (Bay FC; 15/1), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC; 118/27), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC; 15/5), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC; 34/10), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes, FRA; 16/1)
FORWARDS (7): Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current; 10/1), Jameese Joseph (Chicago Stars FC; 4/1), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 52/13), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 17/6), Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current; 18/7), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea FC, ENG; 29/4), Sophia Wilson (Portland Thorns FC; 58/24)
FORMER STANFORD STARS MAKE WNT RETURN TO THE BAY: The roster marks the return of two players who add a tremendous amount of experience to the U.S. roster as both have played in World Cups and at the Olympics. Forward Sophia Wilson, a member of the “Triple Espresso” front line who helped lead the USA to the 2024 Olympic gold medal, makes her first USWNT roster in 17 months following her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter in early September of 2025. The 25-year-old Wilson has 58 caps for the USWNT along with 24 goals, three of which were scored at the 2024 Olympics, to go with her two assists in that tournament. Defender Tierna Davidson, 27, has made a complete recovery from an ACL injury suffered in NWSL play at the beginning of the 2025 season. She returns to the USWNT after a 13-month absence. Coincidentally, Davidson’s most recent international match was against Japan on Feb. 26, 2025, in the SheBelieves Cup finale. Davidson has 67 caps and three goals.
SISTER, SISTER: The Thompson sisters are the third pair of sisters to represent the USA. The first time Gisele and her older sister Alyssa were called in together was the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, and they became the first pair of sisters to come to camp from the same professional club (Angel City FC). The first instance of sisters on the same USWNT roster was in the late 1990s when twins Lorrie and Ronnie Fair were called up together. More recently, Samantha and Kristie Mewis were on the 2021 Olympic Team together. Alyssa was a member of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Team but saw limited action in that tournament, was out of the National Team for about a year but has made a strong push over 2025 to earn more minutes on the wing under Emma Hayes. The Thompson sisters have now started three WNT games together, and have played in five total WNT games together, with Alyssa starting on June 26 vs. Ireland and Gisele coming off the bench to play the final 32 minutes. They both started against Australia in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup and in the second match vs. Brazil on April 8. On March 1, Gisele started the USA’s first match of the 2026 SheBelieves Cup vs. Argentina, with Alyssa subbing on late in the match. Most recently, the Thompson sisters both started the March 4 match vs. Canada. Had Alyssa not been subbed out of that match in the 90th minute, it would’ve marked the second time ever two sisters on the USWNT played a full match together. The first time was when the Mewis sisters played against Mexico on July 1, 2021, and combined for a goal. The Mewis sisters hold the record for most USWNT matches played together by sisters with 12.
32 DEBUTS IN FIRST 32 GAMES: U.S. head coach Emma Hayes gave 32 players their international debuts in the first 32 matches since she officially started her position as head coach of the USWNT in June of 2024. She has now coached 35 total matches for the USA. Before Hayes, Jill Ellis gave 30 players their first caps in 132 games at the U.S. helm while Vlatko Andonovski debuted 18 players in 65 games. In matches when at least one player debuted, the U.S. is 19W-0L-1D, including Hayes’ first three matches at the helm, where three players made their debuts and the USWNT won all three matches. In 2025, Hayes gave 27 debuts in 29 matches. To open 2026, she gave five players their first caps in the first camp of the year: forward Reilyn Turner, forward Maddie Dahlien, midfielder Sally Menti, midfielder Riley Jackson and defender Ayo Oke.
ALYSSA THOMPSON EARNS 2026 VISA SHEBELIEVES CUP MVP: For the seventh year in a row, Visa, the presenting partner of the SheBelieves Cup, awarded the MVP trophy to the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. This year’s award was presented to Alyssa Thompson after her outstanding game-winning goal in the USA’s final match of the tournament vs Colombia. Spain’s Alexia Putellas – the Ballon d’Or winner in both 2021 and 2022 -- won the inaugural award in 2020. The USA claimed top honors for the next four years as Rose Lavelle won the award in 2021, Catarina Macario won it in 2022, Mallory Swanson took home the trophy in 2023 and Sophia Smith (now Wilson) claimed MVP honors in 2024. In 2025, Japan’s Mina Tanaka, who plays in the NWSL with the Utah Royals, won the award.
TEAM NOTES
- Since the start of 2020, the USWNT has played 80 matches in the United States and 32 outside the country. The USA is 69W-5L-6D in domestic matches and has outscored the opposition 245-25 (+220) at home. Outside the United States, the USWNT is 20W-4L-8D with a 62-20 goal margin (+42).
- Since its inception in 1985, the USWNT has compiled a record of 610 wins, 75 losses and 91 ties. Over the history of the program, the USA has gone 364W-25L-37D (90% winning percentage) at home, 59W-20L-16D away (71%) and 187W-30L-38D (81%) on neutral ground. The USA’s overall winning percentage of 84% is the best all-time of any international sports team in history. Of the USA’s 75 losses, 12 (16%) came at the Algarve Cup in Portugal, long one of the world’s most competitive tournaments but one in which the USA no longer competes.
- Since the end of the 2015 World Cup, the USA has played 206 matches with a 169W-14L-23D record.
- So far in 2026, of the USA’s combined 15 goals and 14 assists, 66% involved a player under 25.
- Goals by players under 25: A team-leading three from 21-year-old Ally Sentnor, two from 24-year-old Emma Sears and 23-year-old Trinity Rodman, one each from 23-year-olds Reilyn Turner and Jameese Joseph, 24-year-old Croix Bethune and 21-year-olds Jaedyn Shaw and Alyssa Thompson.
- Assists by players under 25: One each from 20-year-olds Olivia Moultrie, Riley Jackson, Gisele Thompson, 23-year-old Ayo Oke, 21-year-old Jaedyn Shaw and 24-year-olds Croix Bethune and Emma Sears.
- In 2025, of the USA’s combined 41 goals and 28 assists and 51% involved a player under 25.
- Thirty-six of the USA’s 50 goals in 2024 (68%) were scored or assisted by a player under 25.
- Sixteen players made their USWNT debuts in 2025 which is the most U.S. debuts in a calendar year since the first year of the program (1985). Eleven players debuted for the USWNT in 2024, which was the most in a calendar year since 2001, when 15 players – including eventual World Cup champions Abby Wambach and Lori Chalupny – earned their first caps. Five players have debuted in 2026 so far.
- For the second camp in a row, the USWNT roster has zero uncapped players on it, marking the only two rosters of Emma Hayes' tenure without uncapped players.
- Ten players have scored for the U.S. thus far in 2026. Eight of them are on this roster, led by Sentnor with three goals. Sears and Rodman each have two goals after five matches so far this year.
- These will be the first matches Sophia Wilson (née Smith) plays under her married name. Wilson's most recent international goal came on Oct. 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas during a 3-1 win over Iceland.
- Should Wilson see action in any of the three matches, she will be the 18th mother to play for the USWNT. Should Wilson score a goal, she will be the ninth player to score for the U.S. as a mom.
- Three players on the roster have more than 100 caps, led by Lindsey Heaps (173) and followed by Rose Lavelle (118) and Emily Sonnett (115).
- Five players have between 50-100 caps: Emily Fox (74), Tierna Davidson (67), Wilson (58), Naomi Girma (52) and Rodman (52). Sam Coffey is six caps from hitting 50. Ten players have 10 caps or less.
- Of the 23 field players on the roster, 20 have scored in an international match, led by Heaps with 39 international goals. Lavelle has 27 goals and Wilson has 24. The only other players with double figures are Rodman with 13 and Jaedyn Shaw, who scored her 10th career goal on March 1 against Argentina at the SheBelieves Cup.
- The only field players on the roster who haven't scored in an international match are Gisele Thompson (seven caps), Lilly Reale (seven caps) and Kennedy Wesley (four caps). All have scored in the NWSL.
- The roster features 19 NWSL players (five from Gotham FC) and seven who are currently playing for clubs in Europe. Four of the seven are currently competing in the latter stages of the UEFA Women's Champions League: Lindsey Heaps and Lily Yohannes with OL Lyonnes, Emily Fox with Arsenal FC and Phallon Tullis-Joyce with Manchester United.
- Sam Coffey's Manchester City is close to securing the England Women's Super League title and a berth in next year's Champions League.
- The average age of this 26-player training camp roster 25.2, a bit higher than the SheBelieves Cup roster (24.4), which was slightly higher than the 24.1 average age of the 2026 January camp roster.
- The average caps per player heading into the first match against Japan is 37.4, quite a bit higher than recent rosters. That increase reflects the return of Wilson and Davidson but also indicates team is slowly becoming more experienced. The average caps on this roster heading into the first SheBelieves Cup match was 30.4, up from the 6.6 average caps heading into the Paraguay match that opened 2026. The roster for the matches against Italy to end 2025 averaged 27.5 caps ahead of the first match. The roster for the June/July 2025 window was one of the most inexperienced, caps-wise, in the modern history of the USWNT, and it averaged 10 caps more than the January 2026 camp roster with 18 average caps.
- The roster features several connections to the venues that will host the April matches. Five players on the roster played college soccer in the Bay Area at Stanford University: Wilson, Davidson, Girma, Wesley and Jane Campbell. Davidson hails from Menlo Park, Calif. and Girma grew up in San Jose, Calif. Claudia Dickey is the starting goalkeeper for Seattle Reign FC, Wilson and Olivia Moultrie play in the Northwest for Portland Thorns FC and the roster features Colorado natives Wilson and Heaps, the latter of whom signed with the Denver Summit in early January and will join the NWSL expansion club in July after finishing her final season in France. Claire Hutton from Bay FC will also get the chance to play in her club's home venue. Wilson has connections to all three match locations this camp.
- Hayes has now given caps to 60 different players. Of those 60 players, 56 have started a match. No other full-time manager named more than 36 different starters in their first 30 games in charge. In 2025 alone, Hayes gave 44 different players caps, the most of any coach in the 40 years of the USWNT.
- The three goalkeepers in camp have a total of 24 career caps. Campbell of the Houston Dash has 10 but has not earned a cap since Feb. 26, 2025, which was a USA loss to Japan in the most recent meeting between the teams. Dickey has eight caps and Tullis-Joyce has six.
- There is just one teenager on the roster, Lily Yohannes, who turns 19 in June. Sonnett (32) is the oldest player on the roster while Yohannes is the youngest.
- There are 21 players on the roster in their 20s and four in their 30s: Heaps, Lavelle, Sonnett and Campbell.
IN FOCUS: JAPAN
FIFA World Ranking: 5
AFC Ranking: 1
World Cup Appearances: 9 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023)
Best World Cup Finish: Winners (2011)
Record vs. USA: 2W-32L-8D
Head Coach: Michihisa Kano
JAPAN WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Ayaka Yamashita (Manchester City FC, ENG; 88), 12-Chika Hirao (Granada CF, ESP; 15), 23-Akane Okuma (INAC Kobe Leonessa; 3)
DEFENDERS (7): 2-Risa Shimizu (Liverpool FC, ENG; 86/4), 3-Moeka Minami (Brighton & Hove Albion, ENG; 69/5), 4-Kumagai, Saki (London City Lionesses, ENG; 168/4), 5-Hana Takahashi (Urawa Reds; 47/5), 6-Toko Koga (Totteham Hotspurs FC, ENG; 27/4), 13-Hikaru Kitagawa (Everton FC, ENG; 28/2), 16-Yuzuki Yamamoto (Denver Summit, USA; 8/1) 21-Miyabi Moriya (Utah Royals, USA; 26/2)
MIDFIELDERS (9): 7-Hinata Miyazawa (Manchester United FC, ENG; 59/12), 10-Fuka Nagano (Liverpool FC, ENG; 57/1), 14-Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City FC, ENG; 102/22), 15-Aoba Fujino (Manchester City FC, ENG; 41/10), 17-Maika Hamano (Tottenham Hotspurs FC, ENG; 31/9), 18-Honoka Hayashi (Everton FC, ENG; 40/2), 19-Momoko Tanikawa (FC Bayern Munich, GER; 19/6), 22-Remina Chiba (Eintracht Frankfurt, GER; 25/6)
FORWARDS (4): 20-Manaka Matsukubo (North Carolina Courage, USA; 13/1), 9-Riko Ueki (West Ham United FC, ENG; 51/18), 11-Mina Tanaka (Utah Royals, USA; 101/47), 24-Maya Hijikata (Aston Villa FC, ENG; 3/1)
USA vs. JAPAN
- The most recent USA-Japan meeting came in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup finale, a 2-1 loss for the USA that gave Japan the tournament title. It was just the second-ever win for Japan against the USA.
- The USA and Japan have meet five times in the SheBelieves Cup. The U.S. leads that SBC series with a 3W-1D-1D record.
- The meeting in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup was the 42nd all-time between the countries, which first met back in 1986 in the USWNT’s second year of competition. These three matches will be the 43rd, 44th and 45th matchups between the two teams.
- The teams met twice in 2024 and both were epic. The first was in the SheBelieves Cup semifinal (in the truncated four-game format) when the U.S. and Japan faced off in front of a crowd of 50,644 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium – the largest crowd to watch the USWNT on home soil since the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final – and the U.S. came back from an early deficit to win 2-1 to advance to the SheBelieves Cup final where it beat Canada to hoist the trophy for the fifth consecutive year. AT MBS, Japan scored just 31 seconds into the match, taking the lead on a goal from Kiko Seike, but the Americans equalized in the 21st with a strike from distance by Jaedyn Shaw and Lindsey Horan converted the game-winning penalty kick in the 77th.
- The second match was the 2024 Olympic semifinal, an extremely tight affair where Japan played with a defensive posture in an attempt to slow down the Triple Espresso front line of Trinty Rodman, Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson, the first two of whom are on this roster, but Trinity Rodman’s dramatic overtime goal was the difference.
- The 42 meetings with Japan are seventh in most for the USA against any country.
- The teams met in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, a 1-0 U.S. victory in Nashville on a goal from Swanson.
- Before the 2023 SheBelieves Cup the teams met in the last U.S. match before the COVID-19 pandemic; a 3-1 U.S. victory in which Megan Rapinoe and Christen Press scored magnificent first half goals while Lindsey Horan added an insurance goal after Japan’s Mana Iwabuchi pulled one back in the 58th minute.
- The USA leads the all-time series against Japan with an overall record of 32W-2L-8D. Before last year’s SBC match, the USA’s lone loss in the series came during the 2012 Algarve Cup. The USA then went unbeaten against Japan in 14 consecutive meetings, with 10 wins and four draws in that span, including a 2-1 win in the 2012 Olympic Final and a 5-2 victory in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, before falling in the SBC in San Diego last year.
- Since the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, the USA has gone 10-2-4 against Japan, outscoring them 35-18.
- The USA and Japan have a rich history dating back to 1986, the second year of the U.S. WNT program, but the more recent meetings in the 2010s have forever linked these two countries in women’s soccer history.
- While the streak ended at the 2016 Olympics, the USA and Japan met in the three consecutive world finals, with the USA losing the 2011 Women’s World Cup in penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie over regulation and overtime, then winning the 2012 Olympic goal medal game, 2-1, and the historic 2015 Women’s World Cup Final, 5-2. The 2015 final featured the hat trick in 16 minutes from Carli Lloyd and goals from Lauren Holiday and Tobin Heath.
JAPAN NOTES
- Japan is coming off a rousing run to the title at the 2026 AFC Asian Women’s Cup. Japan won all six games, outscoring their opponents 29-1 and the only goal allowed came in a 4-1 win over South Korea in the semifinal.
- Japan is now qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, one of six teams to earn berths from the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
- Japan’s 1-0 victory in the championship game on a 17th minute goal from Maika Hamano was even more impressive as it came in front of a crowd of 74,397 at Stadium Australia, one of the more impressive wins in women’s international soccer since the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
- Riko Ueki of West Ham led the tournament in scoring with six goals. Kiko Seike, who was on this roster before being dropped due to injury, leaving Japan with 23 players for the three-match series, had four goals. Hamano and Hinata Miyzawa had three each.
- 14 different player scored for Japan in the tournament as it won its third AFC Women’s Asia Cup title and three out of the last four competitions. Japan also won in 2014 in Vietnam and 2018 in Jordan.
- Japan got off to a roaring start in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, trouncing Australia 4-0 and then rolling past Colombia, 4-1. Japan won the tournament after defeating the U.S. 2-1 in the final match. Japan was the SBC runner-up in 2023 but never finished higher than third in its previous three appearances.
- Japan’s recent success can be attributed to many factors, but three of the most important are 1) experience, 2) many games playing together with the game group and 3), that fact on this roster Japan has a remarkable 21 of its 23 players playing outside of Japan, something that was not seen on Japan in the recent and distant past.
- Four of those players play in the NWSL in Manaka Matsukubo of the North Carolina Courage, Mina Tanaka, who plays with Miyabi Moriya at the Utah Royals, and Yuzuki Yamamoto who plays for the expansion side Denver Summit FC.
- Tanaka is the leading scorer on this roster with 47 international goals in 101 caps. Yui Hasegawa, who plays for Manchester City in the FA Women’s Super League, has the second-most goals of any player on this roster with 22 goals in 102 caps.
- Remarkably, ever field player on Japan’s roster has scored an international goal and five players are in double-figures in international goals. Hamano is almost there with nine.
- Japan has a remarkable 14 players in England’s Women’s Super League, including Hasegawa and fellow midfielder Aoba Fujino, two of three Manchester City players on the roster. The third is goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita. The three teammates of U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey have played major roles in pushing City to the brink of the WSL title.
- Yamashita is Japan’s long-time starter and carries 88 caps into these games. The other two GKs on the roster have 18 caps combined.
- Japan’s veteran leader is the 35-year-old central defender Saki Kumagai, by far the most experienced player on this roster with 168 caps and has represented Japan at the last four FIFA Women’s World Cups, including scoring the winning penalty against the USA in the penalty kick shootout during the 2011 FIFA World Cup Final. She currently plays for the London City Lionesses in England.
- While Japan’s Senior National Team has not reached a world championship final since 2015, its Women’s Youth National Teams – particularly the Under-20s – have had a great run of recent success. Japan won the 2018 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup and finished runner-up at the 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup contested in Costa Rica. Japan finished second at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, falling to North Korea, 1-0.
- The then eighteen-year-old Hamano won the Golden Ball as the top player at the 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup and also took home the Silver Boot after finishing the tournament with four goals.
- In a move that provided a shock to the women’s soccer world, Japan parted ways with head coach Nils Neilsen just 12 days after winning the Asian title and just days before the start of this FIFA window. Long time senior team assistant and former U-20s head coach Michihisa Kano will serve as interim head coach for the Nadeshiko through all three matches.
