The U.S. women’s national team has one more injury worry to keep track of.
Sophia Smith played no part as the Portland Thorns fell 2-1 to the Orlando Pride on Friday night in what was a clash between two teams on lengthy winning streaks.
Smith was listed as questionable for the match with a “lower leg” injury, and ended up being left off of head coach Rob Gale’s team sheet.
“No,” Gale told reporters in a press conference when asked about whether he was concerned about Smith having a longer-term issue. “It was just a day or two — probably two — early, with the lower-leg injury.
“We expect her to be up [and playing soon], hopefully the U.S. will manage her properly in that environment, knowing that she wasn’t available for today. I think they’ll have to manage her, and build her up possibly for the second game.”
Smith was still included on Emma Hayes’ first USWNT roster for matches against South Korea on June 1 and June 4. The timeline for when she picked up her injury and when the U.S. assembled its roster is at this point unknown, though Gale noted that it was an issue Portland knew about coming into the weekend.
The USWNT attack includes multiple players navigating various knocks. Alex Morgan returned Thursday night for the San Diego Wave after a month on the sidelines, while Jaedyn Shaw came back recently as well.
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