USWNT World Cup roster released: Julie Ertz is in, so is newcomer Savannah DeMelo

Even with an influx of new players, the U.S. women have the same old goal for the World Cup.

To win. And, by doing so, make history.

Veterans Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz, Crystal Dunn and Kelley O'Hara will lead the USWNT at next month's tournament in Australia and New Zealand. But whether the Americans become the first team, men's or women's, to win three consecutive World Cup titles will depend largely on the newcomers.

Fourteen of the 23 players on the roster announced Wednesday have never been to a World Cup. Twelve will be playing in their first major international tournament. One, Savannah DeMelo, is the first uncapped player in 20 years to make a World Cup roster while another, 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson, was still playing youth soccer last fall.

“I think that’s for you guys to decide,” Morgan said when asked if the USWNT should be considered the favorite for the World Cup, which begins July 20. “It’s tough for us to put even more targets on our backs by saying we’re a favorite or not. We already have a target on our backs coming in as the reigning World Cup champs.

“(But) I’m very optimistic with our chances, with this roster.”

The World Cup begins July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, and the USWNT opens play two days later in Auckland against Vietnam. It plays the Netherlands July 27 in Wellington for a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final before wrapping up group play Aug. 1 against Portugal.

Ahead of a pair of April friendlies, the USWNT roster seemed largely settled. Coach Vlatko Andonovski had looked at dozens of players since the Tokyo Olympics, seeking the right combination of veterans and new players, and a new core had established itself.

Then Ertz returned for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, having had son Madden last August. Mallory Swanson, who led the team with seven goals in five games, tore her patellar tendon in the first game against Ireland.

On Friday, captain Becky Sauerbrunn announced she would miss the World Cup with a foot injury.

Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle, the Bronze Ball winner as the third-best player at the World Cup four years ago, have also missed time recently with injuries.

“If there’s a team that has the depth to replace injured players,” Andonovski said, “that’s the U.S. women’s national team.”

The World Cup begins in a month Everything you need to know

While the team will miss Swanson’s opportunism, it will counter with Sophia Smith, the youngest player since Mia Hamm to lead the USWNT in scoring last year, when she also was named U.S. Soccer's Player of the Year and the NWSL's MVP. And Trinity Rodman, a finalist for the Ballon d'Or before her 21st birthday. And Thompson, who won a starting role in the NWSL before she graduated high school. And Lynn Williams, who always seems to find a goal when her team, be it the USWNT or NWSL’s Gotham, needs it.

That’s not even counting Rapinoe, who won both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot after scoring six goals four years ago in France, and Morgan, who was third in last year's FIFA player-of-the-year voting.

“No matter who we put out there,” Smith said, “we’re going to get the job done.”

Sauerbrunn’s absence is significant, both on the field and off. Players repeatedly used the word “heartbroken,” and talked of the impact she’s had on them both as players and as people. It will fall to the veterans, like Morgan, Rapinoe, Ertz and others, to fill that void.

“I’ve already talked to other experienced players, Pinoe being one of them, about how we rally this group. How we can all come together and be incredibly fluid?” said Morgan, who described the USWNT’s age range as being “18 to Pinoe.”

But Sauerbrunn is also a critical member of the USWNT’s defense. At 38, she remains one of the best center backs in the world. Naomi Girma is terrific – she was the first player to win both Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year honors in the NWSL last year – but someone will have to step up and partner with her on the backline.

Which makes Ertz’s return to the team loom even larger.

Few players can match what Ertz does in the midfield, closing off opponents’ options with a combination of grit and field vision and creating opportunities for players like Lavelle and Lindsey Horan. She also operates like a quarterback or traffic cop, directing her teammates to looming threats and possible openings.

Ertz began her national team career as a defender, however, something Andonovski noted Wednesday.

“We know she has the ability to play different positions. We saw her in the 2015 World Cup playing as a center back,” he said. “So it is definitely something that is on our mind. We will be exploring that option.”

As for the inclusion of DeMelo, who has been in training camps with the USWNT but never appeared in a game, Andonovski said she played her way onto the team. The Racing Louisville midfielder has six goals since May 1 in NWSL regular-season and Challenge Cup games, and has eight total this year along with two assists.

“Based on the needs we have in terms of our opponents and different situations we might face, we see Sav as being very important going forward,” Andonovski said.

She also provides backup for Lavelle, though Andonovski stressed that Lavelle is healthy enough that she’ll get minutes in the July 9 sendoff game against Wales.

“The situation with Rose right now is not something we’re worried about,” he said.

Nor is he worried about all the chatter on how the rest of the world has closed the gap on the USWNT. That happened a long time ago, Andonovski said.

The USWNT won the World Cup in 2015 and 2019 because the staff and players were able to find ways to keep teams like England, France, Spain and Japan at bay, and that’s what they’ll have to do again.

“It’s our responsibility to find the next step, to find the next 1%, to push the team forward and keep this team in front,” he said.

The USWNT might look different. The team's goal never does.

The USWNT World Cup roster

Goalkeepers: Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars); Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage); Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit).

Defenders: Alana Cook (OL Reign); Crystal Dunn (Portland Thorns); Emily Fox (North Carolina Courage); Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave); Sofia Huerta (OL Reign); Kelley O'Hara (NJ/NY Gotham); Emily Sonnett (OL Reign).

Midfielders: Savannah DeMelo (Racing Louisville); Julie Ertz (Angel City); Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon); Rose Lavelle (OL Reign); Kristie Mewis (NJ/NY Gotham); Ashley Sanchez (Washington Spirit); Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit).

Forwards: Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave); Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign); Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit); Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns); Alyssa Thompson (Angel City); Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham).

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Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USWNT World Cup roster announcement: Who's in, who's out, what to know