Local players highlight USWNT visit for match vs. South Africa at TQL Stadium
In some ways, the U.S. women's national soccer team is using its time in Cincinnati to pick up the pieces from this past summer's FIFA Women's World Cup.
It's a moment of transition for the USWNT, which will reflect on its past and look ahead to the next world championship at stake in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Greater Cincinnati will serve as the backdrop for it all with three days of training followed by Thursday's match at TQL Stadium against South Africa (7:30 p.m.).
The game is the first of two matches between the countries this week. A second will follow on Saturday at Chicago's Soldier Field. This week is also the USWNT's first camp since its Round of 16 exit from the World Cup, and the first opportunity to collectively set the program's sights on next summer's Olympics.
“I can’t wait, especially given how the World Cup ended. This is our first opportunity to turn the page and so I think it will be a very exciting game," said Aubrey Kingsbury, a Saint Ursula Academy product, during a Monday news conference in West Chester. "Great opportunity for us. To have it in Cincinnati and have the support of my hometown and make that next step of preparing for the Olympics, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Clearly, we weren’t happy with how the World Cup went but it’s just great to be together. It ended obviously very abruptly, so we all just went our separate ways. We went back to our separate club environments and didn’t have any closure.
"We worked so hard for the World Cup. It didn’t go how we wanted it to go, so now we have a chance to redeem ourselves. We’re all looking forward to the Olympics."
The USWNT and South Africa both progressed to the Round of 16 at the World Cup after runner-up finishes in their respective groups, but for the USWNT, the Round of 16 exit triggered significant changes for the coaching staff and the player pool.
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The Americans come to Cincinnati under interim manager Twila Kilgore. She took charge following Vlatko Andonovski's resignation post-World Cup. Kilgore will for the time being − U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker has said he wants to hire a permanent manger before the end of the year − oversee a shifting landscape in the USWNT player pool.
Julie Ertz, a winner of two World Cups and a mainstay in the program for a decade, will play her final international match Thursday in Cincinnati. When the USWNT and South Africa meet Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago, internationally-recognized American star Megan Rapinoe will play her final international match, too.
While the USWNT will bid emotional farewells to Ertz and Rapinoe, the group's time together this week also requires progress.
"We're looking forward to having the opportunity to honor the players who have decided to retire but also know these games are valuable as the first steps towards Paris," Crocker said in a statement released with the initial USWNT camp roster announcement on Sept. 12." Once the new head coach comes in, that individual will assess the player pool and make roster decisions that will be focused on building a team for the future."
When the USWNT last visited Cincinnati's TQL Stadium, it did so in September 2021 as the reigning world champion and the odds-on favorite to win the World Cup in 2024, which would have made them the first national team - men's or women's - to win three straight World Cups.
To underscore the team's dominance and confidence at the time, even as Carli Lloyd was in the final stretch of her international career, the USWNT throttled Paraguay, 8-0, in a friendly. during the visit.
Three years later, the program is regrouping from what was considered a significant disappointment at the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
If you're a local parachuting into the USWNT's news cycle for the first time since their World Cup ouster against archrival Sweden on Aug. 6, you can expect emotional farewells to two all-time greats. You won't see local hero Rose Lavelle except for the media availability she participated in Monday, but you'll see Kingsbury and another Cincinnati product emerging in the USWNT player pool.
Cincinnati talent on USWNT roster
U.S. Soccer announced Saturday that Lavelle (Mount Notre Dame) would miss Thursday's match due to injury but this week won't lack for Cincinnati products in the camp.
With Lavelle and Kelley O'Hara, another USWNT mainstay, both slated to miss the South Africa matches, USWNT officials announced their roster spots would be filled by Midge Purce and 25-year-old Cincinnati native M.A. Vignola, also a product of Saint Ursula Academy in East Walnut Hills.
Vignola is a defender for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She is yet to earn a senior national team appearance for the USWNT but adds plenty of local intrigue for Thursday's match. If she were to see the field at TQL Stadium, it would be another major milestone in Cincinnati's soccer history, but the call-up itself already stands as a significant honor.
Kingsbury made the trip to Australia and New Zealand for the World Cup and is thought to be competing for a bigger role in next summer's Paris Olympics tournament.
“I got in (Sunday). Everyone was excited about the Bengals game, so it just felt like being back at home," Kingsbury said of her first camp in her native Cincinnati. "Here, too, (at the) Ohio Elite training facility… Just love the small-town feel and how this city embraces soccer, their sports teams and I can’t wait to be inside TQL Stadium."
Another chapter of U.S. Soccer history in Cincinnati
While it is true that powerhouse USWNT teams of past generations made one-off appearances in Cincinnati, the frequency of U.S. Soccer planting proverbial flags in the Queen City has never been as great as it's been since the inception of FC Cincinnati.
In the FC Cincinnati era (since 2016 when FCC started playing matches), U.S. Soccer has brought its senior men's and women's national teams to Cincinnati a combined six times. Thursday's match will be the seventh all-time visit by U.S. Soccer during the FC Cincinnati era:
2017 – USWNT vs. New Zealand, Nippert Stadium (friendly). 5-0 win by U.S. Recap.
2019 – USMNT vs. Venezuela, Nippert Stadium (friendly). 3-0 Venezuela win. Recap.
2021 – USWNT vs. Paraguay, TQL Stadium (friendly). 8-0 win by U.S. Recap.
2021 – USMNT vs. Mexico, TQL Stadium (CONCACAF FIFA World Cup qualifier). 2-0 win by U.S. Recap.
2022 – USMNT vs. Morocco, TQL Stadium (friendly). 3-0 win by U.S. Recap.
2023 – USMNT vs. Canada (CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal). USMNT advanced in PK’s. Recap.
2023 – USWNT vs. South Africa (friendly). Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. (Watch on TNT (English), Universo and Peacock (Spanish)).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: USWNT schedule highlighted with Cincinnati talent vs South Africa
