Carli Lloyd will be honored for her 300th cap prior to the June 16 match against Nigeria in Austin, Texas. (Outfoxed Media Photo)
Here are some intriguing tidbits of the U.S. women’s national team’s training camp prior to its Summer Series.
The information was supplised by U.S. Soccer (www.ussoccer.com):
* Forward Carli Lloyd, who earned her historic 300th cap April 10 vs. Sweden in Stockholm, will be honored for the achievement prior to the USA’s June 16 match vs. Nigeria in Austin.
* Lloyd’s next goal will be the 125th of her international career. She is six behind Kristine Lilly, who is in third place on the USA’s all-time goal scoring list.
* Lloyd is by far the most experienced player on the roster with 301 caps. The next most experienced player — defender Becky Sauerbrunn – is 117 caps behind her with 184. The other players on the roster with over 100 caps are forwards Alex Morgan (175), Megan Rapinoe (175), Christen Press (144), and defenders Kelley O’Hara (136) and Crystal Dunn (111).
* Ten players on the roster have 36 or fewer caps.
* The average caps per player on this roster is 76.
* The average age of the roster is 28.
* Rapinoe leads the USA in scoring so far in 2021 with seven goals. Rapinoe’s all-time high in a calendar year for the USWNT is nine goals, achieved in 2019.
* Ten other players have scored for the USA this year, led by midfielder Samantha Mewis with three.
* Rapinoe’s next goal will be her 60th and would make her just the 11th player in USWNT history to score 60 or more goals in her career.
* Lloyd and Lindsey Horan are tied for the most assists so far this year with four each.
* The youngest player on the roster is 20-year-old forward Sophia Smith who was four years old when Lloyd made her USWNT debut. When Smith debuted against the Netherlands last November, she became the first player born in the aughts to earn a senior team cap.
* Mewis and midfielder Rose Lavelle come into camp after returning to the NWSL from Manchester City in England where they helped the club to a second-place finish in the Women’s Super League and an FA Cup title.
* Defender Alana Cook, who is playing in France with first-place Paris Saint-Germain, may come to camp as a Division 1 Feminine champion with the title-deciding clash against arch-rival Lyon set for May 30.
* Midfielder Catarina Macario will also join the U.S. team from France where she is on a roll with Lyon, having scored in five consecutive games before not tallying in Lyon’s 1-0 win vs. Bordeaux over the weekend.
* With Kristie (30-years-old) and Samantha Mewis (28) named to the roster, the Mewis sisters will once again have the possibility to play together for the USA. They already hold the USWNT record for most games played together as sisters with four games. They most recently shared the field on April 10 against Sweden in Stockholm. With 22 and 72 caps respectively, they are approaching a combined 100 caps between the sisters. The record for sisters is 123 caps between Lorrie Fair (120) and Ronnie Fair (3).
* Of the USA’s five previous meetings with Nigeria, four came in the World Cup and one in the Olympics, all wins for the USA. In fact, the USA faced Nigeria in group play in three consecutive World Cups – 1999, 2003, 2007 – and also in 2015.
* The USA and Nigeria most recently met in group play at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a 1-0 victory on Abby Wambach’s final World Cup goal.
* The USA has played Portugal nine times, all wins, and most recently met on Sept. 3, 2019, on the Victory Tour after the Women’s World Cup, a 3-0 win in St. Paul, Minn. behind a Lloyd brace and a goal from Horan.
* On Nov. 8, 2018, against Portugal, the USWNT earned its historic 500th victory in program history, winning 1-0 in Lisbon.
* The USA has played Jamaica just three times in its history, all in Concacaf qualifying matches, most recently a 6-0 win in qualifying for the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Like with Nigeria, this will be the first friendly between the teams.
