Before she stepped away from the U.S. women’s national team in 2021, Julie Ertz had become the linchpin of the team’s midfield.
With Ertz roaming all over the field and destroying plays as the No. 6, the team’s other two central midfielders were free to focus more on attacking.
But Ertz, of course, hasn’t always been a central midfielder. In her World Cup debut, she starred at center back as the USWNT lifted the trophy in 2015.
Now that Ertz has returned after nearly two years away, could she be set to reprise her role as center back? It appears that an injury to Becky Sauerbrunn combined with Vlatko Andonovski’s World Cup roster choices makes that a distinct possibility.
Even with Sauerbrunn out, Andonovski opted to omit center back Tierna Davidson from his 23-player squad. That choice leaves Naomi Girma and Alana Cook as the USWNT’s only two natural center backs. Emily Sonnett has the ability to play in the middle as well, but she hasn’t been used there often for the USWNT, and has played central midfield for OL Reign this season.
When asked on a conference call if Ertz would be an option at center back with Sauerbrunn out, Andonovski didn’t exactly discount the possibility.
“We’re very confident in the team that we have and we’re very confident in the abilities of the players that we have on our team that we’ll be able to overcome the deficiencies that may occur with Becky’s absence,” the coach said.
“Part of it is Julie Ertz. We know that she has the ability to play different positions. We saw her in the 2015 World Cup playing as a center back. We saw her winning a World Cup as well in the U-20s, so it is definitely something that is on our minds, and we will be exploring that option.”
With Ertz away from the team, Andi Sullivan has emerged as a legitimate starting option at the holding midfield position. Andonovski will have plenty of big decisions to make at the World Cup, but one of the most significant will be whether he trusts Sullivan enough to give her sustained minutes at the No. 6, or if Ertz is viewed as too essential in the position and as such, won’t have much time to feature in defense.
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