Emma Hayes is giving a U.S. women’s national team regular another look.
Andi Sullivan has been added to the USWNT camp for upcoming friendlies against South Korea.
The Washington Spirit midfielder was called in as a training player, four days after an initial squad of 26 (including three other training players) was announced on Tuesday.
Per U.S. Soccer’s release announcing the call-up, Hayes took the decision in part because numbers could be short for some portion of the camp. Several players are working through the final stages of recovering from injury, including Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan, Naomi Girma, Jaedyn Shaw, and Catarina Macario.
Lindsey Horan and Emily Fox will be arriving on the back of long flights, adding to the number crunch. Horan is set to fly in from Europe shortly after the Women’s Champions League final, while Fox is in Australia for Arsenal’s post-season tour.
A late opening for Sullivan’s USWNT return
Sullivan will join the squad looking to prove a point. Under Vlatko Andonovski, Sullivan amassed the lion’s share of her 52 caps, playing every second of the 2023 World Cup in the No. 6 role.
However, since U.S. Soccer parted ways with Andonovski, Sullivan has been a high-profile absentee from subsequent USWNT camps convened by interim coach Twila Kilgore. Sam Coffey has largely been first-choice for the U.S. since then, with players like Horan, Emily Sonnett, and Korbin Albert also getting shifts in at the base of the team’s midfield.
With the Olympics looming, a chance to impress Hayes in person could shake things up before the announcement of the final 18-player roster arrives. Sullivan has been in strong form for the Washington Spirit, who at the time of publication sit in second place in the NWSL table.
The Spirit will have a whopping seven players participating in this U.S. camp, though Sullivan, Croix Bethune, and Kate Wiesner (along with Portland Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie, the fourth training player) will leave the group before the match on June 1.
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