U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Jill Ellis named the 20 players who will represent the USA at the 2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship running from Feb. 10-21 in Frisco and
Houston, Texas. The USA opens the tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 10 against Costa Rica (7:30 p.m. CT).
After opening Group A play against the Ticas, the USA continues first round
action against Mexico on Saturday, Feb. 13 (3 p.m. CT), and finishes group
play against Puerto Rico on Monday, Feb. 15 (7:30 p.m. CT). Broadcast
information for the tournament will be announced at a later date.
The two venues for the competition are BBVA Compass Stadium, home to the
Houston Dash of the NWSL and the Houston Dynamo of MLS, and Toyota Stadium,
located in the Dallas suburb of Frisco and home to FC Dallas of MLS.
doubleheaders in each group. Group A will play doubleheaders at Toyota
Stadium on Feb. 10, 13 and 15 and Group B – which features Canada,
Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana – will play doubleheaders at BBVA
Compass Stadium on Feb. 11, 14 and 16. The all-important semifinal matches
will be held on Feb. 19 in Houston, with the winners qualifying for the 2016
Olympics in Brazil. The championship game on Feb. 21 will also be in
Houston.All 20 players selected were a part of the USA’s 26-player roster for
January training camp that ended with a 5-0 victory against Ireland on Jan.
23 in San Diego. The roster features three goalkeepers (a requirement by
tournament regulations) and 17 field players, which includes seven
defenders, five midfielders and five forwards, although many players on the
roster can play more than one position.
Women’s World Cup championship team and just seven players were on the USA’s
roster for 2012 Olympic qualifying: goalkeeper Hope Solo, defenders Becky
Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara and Ali Krieger, midfielders Carli Lloyd and Tobin
Heath and forward Alex Morgan. Solo, Heath and Lloyd are the only players on
the roster who also participated in qualifying for the 2008 Olympics.”This was an exceptionally challenging roster to select,” said Ellis. “The
players all worked and competed very hard in the January camp and that made
the final decisions extremely difficult. With only 17 field players allowed
on the roster, and minimal time in between matches, I think we have one of
the most versatile rosters ever for a qualifying tournament. Most of the
field players are capable of playing at least two positions and as CONCACAF
competitions generally present teams that will sit low and get numbers
behind the ball, it is important to have players that can individually and
collectively break teams down to create chances.”
GOALKEEPERS (3): Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red
Stars), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)
DEFENDERS (7): Jaelene Hinkle (Western New York Flash), Julie Johnston
(Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger
(Washington Spirit), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC
Kansas City), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns
FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash),
Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash)
FORWARDS (5): Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Stephanie McCaffrey (Boston
Breakers), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars),
Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado)The U.S. will attempt to qualify for a sixth consecutive Olympic Games and
win the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying event for the fourth consecutive
time. In 2012, the USA won the Olympic Qualifying tournament in Vancouver,
B.C. (at the same stadium where it would win the Women’s World Cup three
years later) and then went on to win the gold medal in London.In 2008, the USA won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico and went on
to win gold in Beijing. In 2004, the U.S. won the tournament in Costa Rica
and went on to win gold in Athens, Greece. The U.S. qualified for the 1996
Atlanta Games as host and for the 2000 Sydney Games as a top-seven finisher
at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Seven teams have already qualified for the 12-team Olympic Football
Tournament: Brazil and Colombia from South America, France and Germany from
Europe by virtue of their finish at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, New Zealand
from Oceania due to Papua New Guinea pulling out of the second leg of
qualifying, and South Africa and Zimbabwe from Africa. Two teams will
qualify from CONCACAF, Africa and Asia and one more will qualify from Europe
after a mini-tournament in March featuring Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.
roster, playing in nine games (2008 & 2012) while scoring eight goals. Solo
has played in eight Olympic qualifying matches (2008 & 2012).
For the 2012 Olympic qualifying roster, 19 of the 20 players were on the
2011 Women’s World Cup Team. Eight of the players named to the roster have eight caps or less.
Seventeen-year-old forward Mallory Pugh will be playing in her second
CONCACAF qualifying tournament in a three-month span. She also captained the
USA to the title at the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship in early December
in Honduras, earning a berth to the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup at the
end of the year in Papua New Guinea.
Pugh is the youngest player ever named to a U.S. Olympic qualifying roster.
The USA has never lost a match in Olympic qualifying, but tied Canada 1-1 in
the title game of the 2008 tournament before prevailing in penalty kicks.
Four players on the roster have played 100 times for more for the USA, led
by Carli Lloyd’s 212 caps. Hope Solo has 186 caps followed by Tobin Heath’s
107 and Alex Morgan earned her 100th on Jan. 23 against Ireland. Becky
Sauerbrunn could hit 100 during the qualifying tournament as she is currently on 96.