Julie Ertz wasn’t supposed to make it back to the U.S. women’s national team.
Ertz, who last week was recalled for the first time since the Olympics, gave birth in 2022, and has been without a club for over a year. USWNT boss Vlatko Andonovski said in February that the team didn’t believe she was going to be available at the World Cup. There were no outward signs that she was about to make a comeback.
And yet, that’s exactly what she’s doing. Over 600 days after her last competitive match, Ertz is on Andonovski’s roster for two friendlies against the Republic of Ireland.
What brought her back?
“I do love competing. I love playing the sport,” Ertz told reporters from the team’s camp in Texas. “It’s hard to step away from [playing]. Obviously coming back from pregnancy changes things — obviously your body — so I just wanted to make sure, when I was coming back, that I felt like I was strong enough, to be able to feel like I could be myself.”
Ertz said she is practicing “an attitude of gratitude” on her return, acknowledging that the recall is rooted in “probably my past successes with the team, individually and collectively.” Ertz is still without a club, and Andonovski told reporters last week that the USWNT is holding club play as a requirement.
Per Ertz, that issue is one she’s working on even while focusing on this national team camp.
“I’m in communication with a few teams,” said Ertz, adding that she is “trying to stay focused on the games coming up, but also knowing that I need a club team.”
Still, the USWNT has kept Ertz connected while she’s trained away from a team environment, with the 30-year-old saying she’s been watching a lot of film and asking plenty of questions.
“I’ve been in really good conversations with Vlatko, just what they’ve been looking at, what they’ve been trying to do about each game,” said Ertz. “It’s been a little bit different from game to game. So it’s been fun listening to what he sees, and allowing [me] to ask questions… I was a bigger student of the game and I loved being a student of the game, even prior, but at this time, it was focusing on everything else, and getting my body back as well. And then, making sure to have that part where I can really focus on what [the USWNT] were doing tactically, if even if I wasn’t there physically.”
Speaking of that side of the game, there’s a massive challenge in place getting back into playing shape. Ertz says that despite the long road back, that side of things is going well.
“My body feels physically where it needs to be,” said Ertz. “I feel great.”
Ertz added that she had heard from multiple mothers from around the NWSL, specifically taking a moment to shout out Chicago Red Stars and Jamaica forward Cheyna Matthews, who has returned to play three times after giving birth. Ertz also said she had trained with Kealia Watt, another of the growing crop of NWSL moms.
“I had so much respect for them [as players], and now it’s like a whole different level of like, oh my gosh, you have no idea,” said Ertz. “The behind the scenes of stuff that they go through and so I’m grateful for it all. They really inspired me.”
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