United States women's national soccer team

The United States women's national soccer team, often referred to as USWNT, represents the United States of America in international soccer competitions. It is controlled by United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). The team has been one of the most successful in international women's soccer, winning two Women's World Cup titles (including the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991), four Olympic women's gold medals, and ten Algarve Cups. It was ranked No. 1 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings continuously from March 2008 to December 2014 after having been ranked No. 2 on average from 2003 to 2008, and is currently ranked No. 2. The team was selected as the U.S. Olympic Committee's Team of the Year in 1997 and 1999, and Sports Illustrated chose the entire team as 1999 Sportswomen of the Year for its usual Sportsman of the Year honor.

History

The team played its first match at the Mundialito tournament on August 12, 1985, coached by Mike Ryan (not related to 2005â€"2007 coach Greg Ryan). In March 2004, two of its stars, Mia Hamm (who retired later that year after a post-Olympic team tour of the USA) and Michelle Akers (who had already retired), were the only two women and the only two Americans named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players chosen by PelÃ© as part of FIFA's centenary observances. Those two women along with Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, and the 1999 team started a revolution towards women's team sports in America.

Arguably their most influential and memorable victory came in the 1999 World Cup when they beat China 5â€"4 in a penalty shootout. With this win they emerged onto the world stage and brought significant media attention to women's soccer and athletics. On July 10, 1999, over 90,000 people (the largest ever for a women's sporting event and one of the largest attendances in the world for a tournament game final) filled the Rose Bowl to watch the United States play China in the Final. After a back and forth game, the score was tied 0â€"0 at full-time, and remained so after extra time, leading to a penalty kick shootout. With Briana Scurry's save of China's third kick, the score was 4â€"4 with only Brandi Chastain left to shoot. She scored and won the game for the United States. Chastain famously dropped to her knees and whipped off her shirt, celebrating in her sports bra, which later made the cover of Sports Illustrated and the front pages of newspapers around the country and world. This win influenced girls to want to play soccer on a team.

Perhaps the second most influential victory came on July 10, 2011, in the quarterfinal of the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany, where the U.S. beat Brazil 5â€"3 on penalty kicks. Abby Wambach tied the game 2â€"2 in the 2nd minute of extra time in the 2nd period of overtime (the 122nd minute of the match overall) with a header off a left-footed cross by Megan Rapinoe. Earlier in the game, Brazil had evened the score 1â€"1 on a controversial penalty kick. Interestingly, the game was played on the 12th anniversary of the memorable 1999 World Cup Final (described above), which the US also won on penalty kicks.

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, the U.S. won the gold medal for the fourth time in five Olympics by defeating Japan 2â€"1 in front of 80,203 fans at Wembley Stadium, a record for a women's soccer game at the Olympics. The United States advanced to face Japan in a rematch of 2011 Women's World Cup final, won by the Japanese on penalty kicks, by winning arguably one of the greatest games only rivaled by the victories mentioned above. In the semi-final match against Canada, the Americans trailed three times before Alex Morgan's header in the third minute of injury time at the end of 30 minutes of extra-time lifted the team to a 4â€"3 victory. Morgan's game-winning goal (123") is now the latest tally ever in a FIFA competition. The London Olympics marked the first time the USWNT won every game en route to the gold medal and set an Olympic women's team record of 16 goals scored. Wambach scored a team-leading five goals in five straight games, which is an U.S. and Olympic record, while Morgan and Rapinoe led the team with four assists apiece, which attributed to their team-high tying 10 points. By scoring both goals in the 2012 Olympic final, Carli Lloyd is the only woman in history to score the winning goal in separate gold Olympic matches (2008 and 2012).

In late 2012 U.S. Soccer (along with the Canadian Soccer Association and Mexican Football Federation) announced it would subsidize formation of the new National Women's Soccer League starting in 2013, following previous termination of the WUSA and WPS leagues. Stated benefits to the women's national team included providing "competitive games week in and week out against the other best players in the country as well as some international players," and giving "opportunities to players who may not have the chance in the past to play for the national team or to players who have been on the fringes but haven't been able to break into the squad."

In the 2013 season, USA had an undefeated record of 14â€"0â€"2 with their last win against Brazil with a score of 4â€"1 as part of a longer 43-game unbeaten streak that spanned two years. The USA's 43-game unbeaten streak came to an end after a 1â€"0 loss against Sweden in the 2014 Algarve Cup. The streak began with a 4â€"0 win over Sweden in the 2012 Algarve Cup after a 1â€"0 loss against Japan. The USWNT's 80-game home unbeaten streak is still active.

In December 2013, the USWNT All-Time Best XI was chosen by the United States Soccer Federation.

Team image

Media coverage

U.S. TV coverage for the five Women's World Cups from 1995 to 2011 was provided by ESPN/ABC and Univision, while coverage rights for the three Women's World Cups from 2015 to 2023 were awarded to Fox Sports and Telemundo. In May 2014 a deal was signed to split TV coverage of other USWNT games between ESPN, Fox Sports, and Univision through the end of 2022. The USWNT games in the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship and the 2015 Algarve Cup were broadcast by Fox Sports.

The most-watched game in the team's history was its victory in the 1999 World Cup final over China, which set a world attendance record for a women's sporting event of 90,185 in a sellout at the Rose Bowl in California. The game holds the record for largest US television audience for a women's soccer match with 17.975 million viewers on average and an estimated 40 million watching at least part, and was the most viewed English-language US broadcast of any soccer match until the US men's 2014 World Cup match against Portugal.

The record for Olympic women's soccer attendance was set by the 2012 Olympic final between the USWNT and Japan, with 80,023 spectators at Wembley Stadium.

Past and present kits

The USWNT has worn a combination of red, white, or blue (the colors of the national flag) in most years, with exceptions including a gold shirt in 2007 and a black shirt in 2011. In 2012 the team started wearing the same kit as the U.S. men's team, beginning with the red and white hoop design. Nike became the kit supplier for U.S. Soccer in 1995, with an agreement signed in December 2013 to extend the sponsorship through 2022. The USWNT began wearing two stars as of 1999 to signify their two World Cup titles.

Coaching staff

Current staff

Source

Head coaching history

Statistics as of June 22, 2015

Players

Current squad

Head coach Jill Ellis named 23 players to the 2015 Women's World Cup roster on April 14, 2015.
Caps and goals are current as of June 22, 2015 after match against Colombia.

Recent call-ups

The following players were named to a squad in the last twelve months.

Notes:

RETIRED = Retired from professional soccer
Position legend: GK=goalkeeper; DF=Defender; MF=Midfielder; FW=Forward.

Recent schedule and results

2014

2015

The following is a list of matches in 2015, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

US Soccer Schedule.
USA: Fixtures and Results â€" FIFA.com

Player records

Active players in bold. Statistics as of June 22, 2015

The women's national team boasts the first six players in the history of the game to have earned 200 caps. These players have since been joined in the 200-cap club by Pu Wei and Li Jie of China, Birgit Prinz of Germany, Katrine Pedersen of Denmark, Christine Sinclair of Canada, and Homare Sawa of Japan, as well as by three more Americans: Kate Markgraf, Abby Wambach and Heather O'Reilly. Kristine Lilly and Christie Rampone are the only players to earn more than 300 caps.

Most goals scored in a match

The record for most goals scored in a match by a member of the USWNT is five, which has been accomplished by six players.

Competitive record

Yearly team summary

Sources

World Cup

Host year in red

Olympic Games

The team has participated in every Olympics tournament through 2012 and won a medal in each.

CONCACAF Championship and Gold Cup

¹ The US team directly qualified for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup as hosts of the event. Because of this, they did not participate in the 1998 CONCACAF Championship, which was the qualification tournament for the World Cup.

Algarve Cup

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events, alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football.

Torneio Internacional de Futebol Feminino

Pan American Games

The Pan American Games are held in the same year as the FIFA Women's World Cup, consequently the senior United States women's national soccer team never participated in the Pan American Games. However two youth teams: an under-18 team participated and won the inaugural women's soccer tournament at the 1999 Pan American Games, and an under-20 team lost in the final to a full Brazil team in the 2007 Pan American Games. Some of the players who participated in those Pan American Games, such as Hope Solo, Tobin Heath, Lauren Cheney, Cat Reddick and Kelley O'Hara, later played for the full national team.

Honors

References

External links

Official website
FIFA profile

United States women's national soccer team

Wednesday, June 24, 2015