USWNT Olympic roster 2021: Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd headline USA women's soccer team for Tokyo

Simon Borg

USWNT Olympic roster 2021: Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd headline USA women's soccer team for Tokyo image

It's been nearly nine years since the U.S. women's national soccer team last won an Olympic gold medal. A squad of 22 women will look to get the USA back to the highest podium at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The "Women's Football Tournament," as the competition at the Olympics is officially known, will see the USWNT and 11 other nations battle it out for a place on the medals stand.

The event kicks off with a round-robin group stage on July 21. Eight teams qualify for the single-elimination knockout rounds which start with the quarterfinals through to the final on Aug. 6 in Tokyo (Aug. 5 in the USA due to the time difference).

MORE: Complete 2021 women's Olympic soccer schedule

USA Olympic women's soccer roster

Below is the 22-player U.S. women's national team Olympic roster.

On June 30 the final Olympic rosters were officially expanded to formally include the four alternates as part of the main player roster. The International Olympic Committee allowed this one-time exception for the four alternates to be available for selection ahead of every match, providing teams increased flexibility given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on competitive match schedules, training and travel around the world. Prior to that decision, the alternates were only available as a permanent replacement in case of an injury to someone on the 18-player roster.

Jersey Name Pos. Club Olympic Exp.
1 Alyssa Naeher GK Chicago Red Stars 2016
2 Crystal Dunn DF Portland Thorns FC 2016
3 Samantha Mewis MF North Carolina Courage --
4 Becky Sauerbrunn DF Portland Thorns FC 2012, 2016
5 Kelley O’Hara DF Washington Spirit 2012, 2016
6 Kristie Mewis MF Houston Dash --
7 Tobin Heath FW Unattached 2008, 2012, 2016
8 Julie Ertz MF Chicago Red Stars 2016
9 Lindsey Horan MF Portland Thorns FC 2016
10 Carli Lloyd FW NJ/NY Gotham FC 2008, 2012, 2016
11 Christen Press FW Unattached 2016
12 Tierna Davidson DF Chicago Red Stars --
13 Alex Morgan FW Orlando Pride 2012, 2016
14 Emily Sonnett DF Washington Spirit --
15 Megan Rapinoe FW OL Reign 2012, 2016
16 Rose Lavelle MF OL Reign --
17 Abby Dahlkemper DF Manchester City (ENG) --
18 Adrianna Franch GK Portland Thorns FC --
19 Catarina Macario MF Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) --
20 Casey Short Krueger DF Chicago Red Stars --
21 Lynn Williams FW North Carolina Courage --
22 Jane Campbell GK Houston Dash --

Who coaches the USWNT?

Vlatko Andonovski - USWNT

The individual responsible for selecting the squad is head coach Vlatko Andonovski (above), who is leading the USWNT in his first major international competition.

He was hired as USWNT coach in October 2019 and in his first 21 matches at the helm the team has compiled an impressive 20-0-1 mark, setting a record for best start for a head coach in USWNT history.

Andonovski, who has been praised by the players for his staff's level of detailed match preparation, joined the U.S. team after successful coaching stints at two NWSL clubs: Kansas City and OL Reign.

USWNT at the Olympics

The U.S. women reached the gold-medal match in every Olympics tournament except for the 2016 edition in London, where the USWNT was stunned by Sweden in a quarterfinal penalty-kick shootout.

Since women's soccer was first introduced as an Olympic competition in 1996, the USA has won a total of four of the five finals it has played, losing only to Norway in 2000 on a sudden-death goal in extra time. 

Year Site USWNT Finish (Final match)
1996 Atlanta Gold Medal (2-1 win vs. China)
2000 Sydney Silver Medal (3-2 loss vs. Norway)
2004 Athens Gold Medal (2-1 win vs. Brazil)
2008 Beijing Gold Medal (1-0 win vs. Brazil)
2012 London Gold Medal (2-1 win vs. Japan)
2016 Rio de Janeiro QFs (1-1 vs. Sweden, 4-3 loss in PKs)

USWNT 2021 Olympics Schedule

The USWNT is ranked No. 1 in the world and at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics it will compete against three other teams in the group stage: Sweden (No. 5 in the world), Australia (No. 9) and New Zealand (No. 22).

There are a total of three groups in the women’s soccer tournament. The top two teams automatically advance to the quarterfinals along with the two best third-place finishers.

Group G

Team PTS GP W L D GF GA GD
Sweden 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
USA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
New Zealand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group G schedule

Date Match Time
Wed, July 21 Sweden vs. USA 4:30 am ET
Wed, July 21 Australia vs. New Zealand 7:30 am ET
Sat, July 24 Sweden vs. Australia 4:30 am ET
Sat, July 24 New Zealand vs. USA 7:30 am ET
Tues, July 27 New Zealand vs. Sweden 4 am ET
Tues, July 27 USA vs. Australia 4 am ET

Simon Borg

Simon Borg Photo

Simon Borg is a senior editor at The Sporting News who has covered football/soccer for over a decade. A supporter of Italian club Parma Calcio from his years growing up in Europe, he was previously a long-time member of Major League Soccer's digital media team, as a multimedia content producer, on-air personality, and Editor-in-Chief. Based in New York City, Borg is multilingual and has covered the domestic and global scene for TSN since 2021.