2023 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa: USA vs. Japan - Lineup, Schedule & TV Channels

USWNT vs. Japan – 2023 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa
Date: February 19, 2023
Venue: GEODIS Park; Nashville, Tenn.  
Broadcast: TNT, HBO Max, Universo and Peacock
Broadcast Time: 3:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. Local (Pre-game coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT on TNT and HBO Max)
Official Kickoff Time: 3:37 p.m. ET / 2:37 p.m. Local

 

Starting XI vs. Japan: 18-Casey Murphy; 2-Ashley Sanchez, 3-Alana Cook, 6-Lynn Williams, 8-Sofia Huerta, 9-Mallory Swanson, 10-Lindsey Horan (Capt.), 12-Naomi Girma, 13-Alex Morgan, 22-Kristie Mewis, 23-Emily Fox

 

Available Subs: 1-Alyssa Naeher, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 5-Trinity Rodman, 7-Ashley Hatch, 11-Midge Purce, 14-Emily Sonnett, 15-Megan Rapinoe, 16-Rose Lavelle, 17-Andi Sullivan, 19-Crystal Dunn, 20-Taylor Kornieck, 21-Adrianna Franch

 

GAME NOTES | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

• USWNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (Including this match): Morgan (203), Horan (125), Swanson (86), Williams (51), K. Mewis (49), Huerta (28), Fox (26), Cook (23), Sanchez (21), Girma (13), Murphy (13)

• This Starting XI averages 57 caps per player with Morgan and Horan the only players in this Starting XI with more than 100 caps. Seven players – Mewis, Huerta, Fox, Cook, Sanchez, Girma and Murphy - enter the match with fewer than 50 caps.

• Sunday’s Starting XI features five different players from the lineup that started on Thursday against Canada: Murphy for Naeher in goal, Girma and Huerta on defense for Sauerbrunn and Dunn, Mewis in the midfield for Sullivan and Williams in the attack for Rodman.

• Horan is the only player in today’s starting lineup who started the last meeting against Japan at the 2020 SheBelieves Cup, though Williams and Swanson saw action in that match as second-half substitutes, with Swanson tallying an assist to Horan on the USA’s third and final goal in the 3-1 victory.

• Lindsey Horan will captain the side as she makes her third start of the year and earns her 125^th cap overall with the USWNT.  Horan scored in the USA’s most recent meeting against Japan in March of 2020 and has been directly involved in 22 goals for the USA since the start of 2020, totaling 14 goals and eight assists.

• Casey Murphy will make her 13^th career appearance – and 13^th start – for the USWNT. Murphy has eight career shutouts in her previous 12 caps, including a clean sheet in her first appearance of the year on Jan. 21 in New Zealand.

• Ashley Sanchez will make her third consecutive start – the longest such streak of her international career – as she earns her 21^st cap for the USWNT. Sanchez, who will make her ninth start overall in today’s game against Japan, has appeared in all but three of the USA’s matches since making her international debut in November of 2021.

• Defender Alana Cook is set to make her 23^rd international appearance for the USA as she makes her third consecutive start. Cook, who led the USWNT in total minutes played in 2022, is tied for second on the teams with 225 minutes played this year and went the full 90 minutes in each of her last appearances.  

• Forward Lynn Williams, who came on as a second half substitute on Thursday against Canada to become the 63^rd player in USWNT history to reach 50 caps, will make her first start for the USA in nearly 15 months. Williams, who suffered a severe hamstring injury last March for which she needed surgery, returned to the field and scored in the USA’s Jan. 18 win over New Zealand in what was her first action for the USWNT in 329 days. Today’s start against Japan will be the 23^rd of Williams’ international career and her first since Nov. 30, 2021, against Australia.

• Defender Sofia Huerta will earn her 28^th career cap as she makes her second start of 2023. Huerta returns to the field after she did not see action in the USA’s SheBelieves Cup opener against Canada on Feb. 16, which snapped a streak of 17 consecutive appearances for the USA, a run which dated back to the April 9, 2022, friendly vs. Uzbekistan.

• Coming off a brace on Thursday against Canada, Mallory Swanson will make her team-leading fourth start 2023 as she earns her 86th cap for the USWNT. Swanson leads the U.S. in scoring in 2023 with five goals in three games and is in the midst of a four-game scoring streak which dates back to Nov. 13, 2022. The four-game scoring streak is tied for the longest of Pugh’s international career. Should she score on Sunday against Japan, it would be the longest scoring streak by any USWNT player since Christen Press had a six-game scoring streak from November 2019 to February 2020.

• Naomi Girma will make her first career appearance at the SheBelieves Cup as she makes her 11^th start and 13^th appearance all-time for the USWNT. The 22-year-old Girma will have now started seven of the USA’s last nine games and has played the full 90 minutes in seven of her career appearances.

• Alex Morgan, who assisted Swanson’s opening goal on Thursday night against Canada, will make her third start of the year as she makes her 203^rd international appearance, moving past Hope Solo to take sole possession of 11^th on the USWNT’s all-time caps list. Morgan has 12 goals and 2 assists in 14 career appearances against Japan, the most goals she has scored against any one opponent in her international career. In fact, Morgan has scored in each of her last five appearances against Japan, a streak that dates back to June of 2016.

• Kristie Mewis will make her 49^th international appearance as she makes her 15^th  career start and first in nearly a year for the USWNT. Mewis last started for the USA in the finale of the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, playing the full 90 minutes and scoring in the USA’s 5-0 win over Iceland on Feb. 23, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. Mewis appeared in 10 of the USA’s 18 matches in 2022 and has come on as a second half substitute in each of the team’s last two games.

• Emily Fox will earn her 31^st cap as she makes her third start of 2023. Entering Sunday’s game in Nashville, Fox has played in 21 of the USA’s 25 matches since the October 2021 FIFA window, making 20 starts during that span. She is currently tied with Alana Cook for second on the team with 225 minutes of action in 2023.