Vlatko Andonovski: “Getting the national team back together brings us relief and excitement.” (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
CHICAGO – They’re getting the old band back together.
The U.S. women’s national team will get together for the first time in seven months as U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski will conduct a training camp running from Oct. 18-28 in Commerce City, Colo..
The camp, which will commence after the completion of the NWSL Fall Series, will mark the first time the USWNT has come together since winning the SheBelieves Cup March 11.
The Americans are 10-0-0 under Andonovski since his hiring last fall, but there will be no international games associated with this camp.
“Getting the national team back together brings us relief and excitement, and I’m thankful for all the work done behind the scenes to make this happen, and make it happen safely for all the players and staff,” Andonovski said in a statement. “We’re going to be smart and efficient in how we conduct this camp, but we know that the Olympics will be coming fast once the calendar turns to 2021, so we have to make as much progress as we can during the time we have in Denver.”
The U.S. team and staff will operate inside a controlled environment at a Denver-area hotel. Everyone entering the controlled environment will undergo multiple COVID-19 tests before traveling, and will be tested upon arrival and then every two days during camp.
There will be no full team training until the results of all arrival tests are confirmed.
The training camp will be conducted under strict protocols – available here – which were established by the U.S. Soccer Medical team, with contributions from the Sports Science, Communications, Administrative and Events staffs, and led by U.S. Soccer Chief Medical Officer Dr. George Chiampas, who was also part of the NWSL Medical Task Force that established the protocols for the NWSL Challenge Cup and NWSL Fall Series.
“Our top priority at all times is the health and safety of our players and staff,” Chiampas said in a statement. “We’ve worked hard to make sure our players and staff are aware of all our strategies and protocols so they will feel safe in the environment. We all have our responsibilities individually to execute the proper maintenance of the environment, but collectively as a team, we all need to work together to make sure we can have the safest and most productive camp in October, as well as for events moving forward.”
U.S. Soccer also is working on possible USWNT activity for November.
