The United States women’s national team will go on a month-and-a-half hiatus following a spring that saw them lift the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup and their seventh SheBelieves Cup. We’d say we’ve seen enough for a USWNT Olympic roster prediction.
Incoming USWNT head coach Emma Hayes will need to narrow the roster to 18 names for the Paris Olympics. She’ll have watched both tournaments and have a solid idea of who deserves to go.
The18’s 18-player USWNT Olympic roster prediction sees just 10 names return that were on the 2023 Women’s World Cup roster. The Paris Olympics will truly be a new era of the national team.
Below are the 18 names we predict will be on Hayes’ roster for this summer. This prediction assumes that everyone — barring major injuries like Midge Purce who is out with an ACL injury — is healthy.
USWNT Olympic roster prediction
*indicates a player that was on the 2023 World Cup roster
Goalkeepers
- Alyssa Naeher*
- Casey Murphy*
Fullbacks
- Emily Fox*
- Crystal Dunn*
- Jenna Nighswonger
Center backs
- Naomi Girma*
- Tierna Davidson
- Abby Dahlkemper
Midfielders
- Lindsey Horan*
- Rose Lavelle*
- Sam Coffey
- Korbin Albert
Wingers
- Trinity Rodman*
- Sophia Smith*
- Mallory Swanson
- Jaedyn Shaw
Strikers
- Alex Morgan*
- Catarina Macario
Players we think just missed out on being included in the roster are Emily Sonnett, Becky Sauerbrunn, Lynn Williams and Alana Cook. The USWNT will be allowed four alternates for the roster.
Other items to note in our prediction is that we’ve listed Smith as a winger, however she could also be included as a striker. We could see Hayes picking between Smith and Morgan as the starting No. 9 or using Smith out wide.
Despite little playing time, we’ve included Macario in the roster. She has the unique advantage of playing for Hayes with Chelsea and has impressed as a super-sub for the Blues. We predict that Hayes will bring Macario to Paris for her performances with Chelsea.
Some fans won’t be happy to see Albert’s name on the roster given the off-the-field controversies, however her quality in the midfield at the Gold Cup warrant her inclusion for Paris.
Two other exciting newcomers will be Shaw and Nighswonger who both had breakout performances this spring for the USWNT. Shaw has arguably locked herself in as a starter while Nighswonger will compete with Dunn as the starting left back.
The USWNT Olympic roster will be announced in early July with the opening game vs. Zambia is on July 25.
