USWNT to play friendly vs. the Netherlands tonight in Atlanta

USA vs. Netherlands
Georgia Dome; Atlanta
Sept. 18, 2016
International Friendly Match

(Via U.S. Soccer) – The U.S. Women’s National Team finishes up its first fall series of matches when it faces the Netherlands on Sept. 18 at the Georgia Dome in a match that will be broadcast on FS1 at 7p.m. ET.

The USA is coming off a dominant 9-0 win against Thailand in Columbus, Ohio, that was the first match since the Olympics. Carli Lloyd scored three goals with four assists to lead the team on a night when U.S. Soccer said an emotional goodbye to Heather O’Reilly. O’Reilly, who wore the captain’s band, capped her farewell performance with a goal and an assist as the USA scored nine goals for #9 to send her into international retirement on a high note. Lloyd became the first player in U.S. history to record three goals and four assists in a single U.S. WNT match. The 9-0 win was the USA’s second-largest of 2016 after scoring 10 against Puerto Rico during Olympic Qualifying last February.

HAO SAYS GOODBYE: O’Reilly, one of the most successful players in U.S. Women’s National Team history, announced her retirement from international soccer on Sept. 1. O’Reilly, 31, was as one of the youngest players to debut for the USA over the past 15 years, playing her first international match on the senior level at age 17 during the Algarve Cup against Sweden on March 1, 2002. She was a junior in high school. She would go on to play for five different head coaches for the National Team. She finished her spectacular 15-year international career 231 caps, which places her seventh all-time in U.S. Women’s National Team history (but soon to be passed by Carli Lloyd). Her 47 goals place her in a tie for 11th with Tisha Venturni on the USA’s all-time scoring list, and her 55 assists are tied for fifth place on the all-time assist list with Julie Foudy. O’Reilly retired having played in three Women’s World Cup tournaments (2007, 2011, 2015), winning last year’s title; and three Olympic Games, winning three gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012), and a 2002 Under-19 Women’s World Cup title. As the U.S. head coach Jill Ellis had already used her allotted six substitutions, O’Reilly departed the field to a standing ovation in the 89th minute, leaving the WNT to play the remainder of the match with 10 players.

FAMILIAR ROSTER COMES TO ATLANTA: All the players on the U.S. roster for these two fall matches were in Brazil for the 2016 Olympics as U.S. head coach Jill Ellis is giving these two games to those players. The call-ups may expand outside the Olympic Team for the remainder of the fall games. Ellis will suit up 18 players for both matches. There has been one change to the U.S. roster initially announced as forward Mallory Pugh, who was already scheduled to miss the match against Thailand due to training with the U-20 WNT in Los Angeles, will also miss the game against the Netherlands as she is staying with the U-20s for the U-20 Women’s NTC Invitational as she continues to fully recover from an ankle injury suffered during the Olympic Games. Midfielder Morgan Brian took an elbow to the head in the Houston Dash’s NWSL match against the Boston Breakers last weekend and displayed concussion-like symptoms so she was held out of the Thailand match for precautionary reasons, but has gone through the concussion protocols and has been cleared to play vs. the Netherlands in her home state of Georgia. Heather O’Reilly played her final U.S. WNT game on Sept. 15 so of course will not be on the roster to face the Netherlands.

U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position

GOALKEEPERS (2): 18-Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), 22-Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride)
DEFENDERS (7): 6-Whitney Engen (Boston Breakers), 8-Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), 7-Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), 11-Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), 5- Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), 4-Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City, 21-Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)
MIDFIELDERS (7): 14-Mogan Brian (Houston Dash), 17-Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), 19-Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), 10- Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), 3- Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), 20-Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash), 15-Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign)
FORWARDS (3): 16-Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), 13-Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), 12-Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars)

YOUTH + EXPERIENCE: Fourteen of the 18 players on the USA’s Olympic roster were members of the 2015 Women’s World Cup championship team, and the four that weren’t – Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Mallory Pugh and Allie Long – now have cut their teeth at a world championship event. In addition, all four had played for the USA in one or more FIFA youth World Cups. The USA now heads into a new cycle working up to the next Women’s World Cup in France with a tremendously experienced core and U.S. head coach Jill Ellis and her staff will of course be looking to add new players during the process. Twelve of the 18 players on this roster have 39 or more caps, but only four have more than 100. Thirteen of the 18 players on the roster are under 30 with eight 27 or younger.

USA LOOKS TO STAY UNBEATEN IN REGULATION IN 2016: The USA is 17-0-3 in 2016 (the penalty kick loss in the Olympics officially counts as a tie), earning 14 shutouts while allowing just seven goals, five of those coming in two games, three against Japan on June 2 and two against Colombia on Aug. 9 in the Olympic Group G finale. The USA started the year with a 5-0 win against Ireland and then won two tournaments early on – taking the title at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February and the SheBelieves Cup in March. The USA played two friendly matches against Olympic Group G opponent Colombia in April, winning 7-0 and 3-0 with seven different players scoring the 10 goals; and two entertaining matches against Japan in June, a wild 3-3 draw on June 2 in Commerce City, Colo., and a rematch in Cleveland that the USA won 2-0 during a game that was stopped in the 76th minute due to inclement weather. In July, the USA faced fellow Olympic participant South Africa on July 9 in the first meeting between the teams, winning just 1-0 as the USA logged a dominating if somewhat uneven performance. The USA dominated Costa Rica in its final Olympic send-off match on July 22, winning 4-0, and earned the full six points from its first two matches of the 2016 Olympics Games with a 2-0 win against New Zealand and a narrow 1-0 win vs. France. The USA picked up a point in its final first round match against Colombia to finish atop Group G and earn a quarterfinal meeting with Sweden, where the Americans dominated, out-shooting their opponents 27-6, but eventually fell in the shootout. The first post-Olympic match was a rousing success as the USA powered home nine goals, which included three goals and four assists from Carli Lloyd to send Heather O’Reilly into retirement in grand fashion.

U.S. TEAM AND ROSTER NOTES:

• Appearing in her 229 international match against Thailand on Sept. 15, Carli Lloyd was part of seven of the nine goals the USA scored. Lloyd recorded her seventh international hat trick and added four assists, bringing her international totals to 93 goals and 47 assists respectively. She leads the team with 10 assists this year and is second in goals with 14.
  Lloyd becomes the first player in U.S. history to record three goals and four assists in a single U.S. WNT match.
• With her goals in the first two games of the 2016 Olympics Games, Lloyd became the only American to score multiple goals in three in separate Olympics (’08,’12,’16). Her eight Olympic goals put her in second place behind Abby Wambach’s U.S. record of 10 Olympic goals.
• Lloyd is now just seven goals away from becoming the sixth player in U.S. history to score 100 or more.
• Lloyd has scored 31 goals in her last 31 matches starting with the Round of 16 game at the WWC. In fact, Lloyd scored 36 international goals between the time she debuted six days’ shy of age 23, and when she turned 30. Remarkably, since she’s turned 30, she has scored 57 goals in just over four years.
• Both Christen Press and Crystal Dunn added single tallies in the match vs. Thailand and are both tied for the team lead in appearances this year with 20. Press now has 35 goals in 75 international appearances, while Dunn recorded the 16th of her international career and 12th of 2016, putting her third behind only Lloyd and Alex Morgan (15). Press has moved past Lindsay Tarpley into 16th place on the U.S. WNT all-time goals list. She is averaging just under a goal for every two games she plays (0.46 goals per game) for the WNT.
• Morgan added two late goals vs. Thailand to take her international tally to 71 goals in 117 caps.
• The only other time Morgan scored double-digit goals for the USA in a calendar year was in 2012 (28 goals), which also happened to be an Olympic year. Her six Olympic goals place her in sole possession of third place behind Lloyd (8) and Wambach (10) on the USA’s Olympic goals-scored list.
• Morgan’s two goals on Sept. 15 marked her 19th career multi-goal game.
• On Jan. 23, 2016, Morgan became the 34th female player in U.S. history to play 100 times for her country. Morgan debuted for the USA on Oct. 2, 2010, vs. China and she’s averaged 0.60 goals per game in her international career.
• Morgan’s goal 12 seconds into the match against Costa Rica on Feb. 10 was the earliest in U.S. WNT history. She also scored the latest goal in U.S. history, tallying after 122 and 22 seconds against Canada in the semifinal of the 2012 Olympics. It was also the quickest in CONCACAF qualifying history, besting Abby Wambach (35 seconds vs. Dominican Republic on Jan. 20, 2012).
• Morgan scored three goals in the Olympic Qualifying semifinal match against Trinidad & Tobago on Feb. 19. It was her third career hat trick and the first since Nov. 28, 2012 against Ireland.
• Tobin Heath’s goal vs. Thailand was her fourth of 2016 and 16th of her career in her 123rd international appearance. With her two assists in the 2016 Olympic Games, both coming on Lloyd’s goals, Heath upped her assist total to six in 2016 and 27 for her career with the WNT.
• The start in goal vs. Thailand on Sept. 15 was the first appearance in 2016 and third career shutout for Ashlyn Harris who played for the WNT for the first time since Aug. 16, 2015, against Costa Rica in Pittsburgh, which was the first match following the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup triumph.
• Dunn and Mallory Pugh each notched a goal against Colombia on Aug. 9 at the Olympics. It was the first Olympic goal for each player. Additionally, with that goal Pugh became the youngest American player to ever score at the Olympic Games. She also became the youngest American female player to start in an Olympic match when she took the field against New Zealand on Aug. 3.
• After having ACL surgery in mid-December of last year, midfielder Megan Rapinoe made a steady recovery, and her progress was good enough for Jill Ellis to name her to the 2016 Olympic Team.
• On Aug. 9 against Colombia, Rapinoe was in the starting lineup for the first time since October of 2015. The game marked the first WNT action for Rapinoe since her knee surgery, after playing against Thailand on Sept. 15, she has now played 104 minutes in three games as she continues her journey back to full fitness for international soccer.
• The match against New Zealand on Aug. 3 marked the first Olympic starts for Pugh, Morgan Brian, Becky Sauerbrunn, Julie Johnston and Meghan Klingenberg, while the match against France on Aug. 6 marked the first Olympic starts for Crystal Dunn and Whitney Engen. It was Engen’s debut at the Olympic Games and the first start in a senior level world championship for Dunn, Engen, Pugh and Long.
• Coming in as second half subs on Aug. 3, Christen Press, Lindsey Horan and Dunn made their Olympic debuts against New Zealand. Ali Krieger came in as a sub on Aug. 6, thus making her Olympic debut as well. 10 of the 11 2016 Olympic debutants on the U.S. roster saw time on the field. Only goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher did not make her Olympic debut. Against Colombia on Aug. 9, Krieger, Horan and Press all made their first Olympic starts.
• Pugh achieved a rare feat of helping two different teams qualify for a world championship in the same cycle. Last December, she captained the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team to a 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup berth and the CONCACAF title at the qualifying tournament in Honduras. Pugh was called up by Jill Ellis for the USA’s January training camp this year, making her one of the youngest field players called into the full U.S. WNT in the past 15 years. Pugh was a starter at the age of 16 in the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Canada and will compete in the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea at the end of this year.
• Pugh scored in her senior team debut (the 19th U.S. WNT player to score in her first cap) on Jan. 23 vs. Ireland at 17 years, 8 months and 25 days old, becoming the youngest player to debut for the U.S. in the last 11 years.
• Pugh earned her second cap with the WNT on Feb. 10, coming on for Dunn in the 68th minute against Costa Rica in her first Olympic qualifying match and thus became the youngest female player in WNT history to play in an Olympic Qualifying match at 17 years, 9 months and 12 days old.
• Pugh earned her first start against Puerto Rico on Feb. 15 and picked up her first WNT assist while also creating a PR own goal. She has played in 17 of the USA’s 20 games this year and started 12 matches.
• Pugh, who turned 18 on April 29, is fifth all-time for most U.S. caps before the age of 18 (11). She is third for most goals before the age of 18 (2), fourth in most starts before the age of 18 (7) and first for most assists before the age of 18 (5).
• Before the match against Puerto Rico on Feb. 15 in the Olympic Qualifying tournament, Dunn had scored five goals for the U.S. WNT. She doubled that total vs. Puerto Rico, notching five goals to tie a U.S. record for most goals scored in a match. She became the seventh U.S. player to achieve that feat. The other six were: Brandi Chastain (1991), Michelle Akers (1991), Tiffeny Milbrett (2002), Abby Wambach (2004), Amy Rodriguez (2012) and Sydney Leroux (2012). It was Dunn’s first multi-goal game for the WNT.
• After earning her first two caps at the 2013 Algarve Cup, now 22-year-old Lindsey Horan got her first three starts at the end of last year, switching positions to holding midfielder where she excelled in the Olympic Qualifying tournament and the SheBelieves Cup. Horan, who was the first American female player to skip college and head overseas to play professionally, left for Europe in July of 2012 after she graduated from high school and spent more than three years in France with Paris Saint-Germain. She scored her first WNT goal against T&T at the end of last year and scored her second to break open a tight match against Canada in the championship of Olympic Qualifying. Her third was one to remember, coming off the bench in her hometown of Denver on June 2 to head home an apparent game-winner in the 89th minute, but Japan equalized in the third minute of stoppage time.
• Horan’s goal against Japan on June 2 was her second of 2016 and third of her career.
• Midfielder Allie Long scored the first two goals of her international career on April 6 against Colombia. Long scored twice on headers. Her most recent start before that match was also at Pratt & Whitney Stadium, on June 19, 2014, in a 2-2 draw with France. She came off the bench on April 10 vs. Colombia to earn her sixth cap and started against Japan on June 2 and June 5 to earn her seventh and eighth. Her start against South Africa on July 9 gave her nine caps before she was named to the 2016 Olympic Team, the only field player on the team in single digits, but she hit 10 career caps on July 22 vs. Costa Rica. She now has 14 caps.
• Julie Johnston’s two goals against Colombia on April 10 upped her career total to eight, all coming off set plays. It was her first multi-goal game for the USA.
• Against Canada on Feb. 21 in the championship game of the Olympic Qualifying tournament, U.S. co-captain Becky Sauerbrunn became the 35th S. female player to reach 100 caps. She also picked up the third assist of her career, lofting a perfect pass to Lindsey Horan to score off a header. Sauerbrunn got her second assist of the year and the fourth of her career on Lloyd’s header goal off a free-kick against Costa Rica on July 22. She picked up her third assist and fifth of her career on Dunn’s 70th minute goal against Thailand on Sept. 15.
• The USA will bring three Georgia natives to Atlanta in Kelley O’Hara (Fayetteville), Morgan Brian (St. Simon’s Island) and Emily Sonnett (Marietta). None of them went to college in Georgia (Stanford, Virginia and Virginia, respectively), but all grew up playing youth and high school soccer in the state. This will be Brian and O’Hara’s second time play for the USA in their home state – both played against Russia during an 8-0 victory on Feb. 13, 2014 – but it will be the first opportunity for Sonnett.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS:

• Carli Lloyd is in seventh place in the WNT’s all-time starts list with 198. Lloyd is the 10th woman in U.S. history to reach 200 caps, achieving the feat at the WWC quarterfinal match against China PR on June 26 and is in eighth place on the USA’s all-time caps with 229 behind the retired Heather O’Reilly (231).
• She also became the third player in U.S. history to score in her 200th appearance. Abby Wambach and Heather O’Reilly are the other two.
• Lloyd is the highest active goal scorer in U.S. history with the players ahead of her, Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly, Tiffeny Milbrett and Michelle Akers all retired.
  With her assist against Colombia on Aug. 9, Lloyd moved into sole possession of ninth place on the U.S. all-time assist list with 43. Now with 47, she is one assist behind Carin Gabara in eighth place. Lloyd is in sixth place on the U.S. WNT’s all-time goal scoring list. Now with 93 goals, she is the highest-scoring midfielder in U.S. history.
• Against Thailand, Lloyd became the first player in U.S. history to record three goals and four assists in a single U.S. WNT match.
• Alex Morgan has 71 goals and is in eighth place on the USA’s all-time goal scoring list. Next in line is Cindy Parlow with 75 career goals.
• Morgan Brian earned her 50th cap at the young age of 23 on March 6. Now with 58, she is 48th on the all-time caps list.
• Kelley O’Hara sits at 38th on the all-time caps list with 87 to go along with her two international goals.
• Ali Krieger earned her 94th cap against Thailand on Sept. 15 and is now six away from becoming the 36th player in WNT history to reach the century mark.
• The three goals for each team during the 3-3 draw on June 2 against Japan equaled the highest-scoring draw in USWNT history. It has occurred only three previous times, most recently vs. Germany in 2013.
• The USA’s three goals in the first four minutes and four seconds of the Sept. 15 match against Thailand was the quickest three goals to start a match in U.S. history. The quickest prior to that was three goals in less than six minutes against Martinique in Women’s World Cup qualifying in 1991 as Mia Hamm scored in the first minute, April Heinrichs scored in the third and Michelle Akers tallied in the sixth.

USA IN NWSL: Following the Olympics, the U.S. players returned to their clubs to finish the NWSL season and several will see playoff action this year as Ali Krieger and Crystal Dunn of the Washington Spirit, Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan, Emily Sonnett, Meghan Klingenberg and Allie Long of the Portland Thorns, and Alyssa Naeher, Christen Press and Julie Johnston of the Chicago Red Stars have all qualified for the post-season. Samantha Mewis and the Western New York Flash will be the fourth and final playoff team if they can earn a win or a draw in the final regular season game against Boston. Despite missing several games due to WNT commitments, several U.S. players are among the league leaders in several statistical categories. Press is sixth in the league in goals with seven while Tobin Heath leads the league in assists with nine. Dunn is fourth in assists with five. Press is second in the league in shots with 58 and first in shots on goal with 37. Morgan is sixth in the league in shots with 41 and ninth in shots on goal with 19. Mewis is 10th in the league in shots with 35. Ashlyn Harris is second in the league in saves with 60 while Naeher is sixth with 43. Naeher is tied for the league lead in shutouts with six with former U.S. WNT net-minder Nicole Barnhart.

2016 NWSL Regular Season Statistics Field Players

BY THE NUMBERS:

0.31 Goals per game the USA allowed in 2016
1 USA’s FIFA ranking and number of players that made their WNT debut in 2016 (Pugh)
2 Times the USA has gone unbeaten in regulation time in a calendar year when playing 10 or more games
3.44 Goals per game the USA scored in 2016
4 Goals needed by Alex Morgan to catch Cindy Parlow (75) for 7th on the USA’s all-time scoring list
6 Caps Ali Krieger needs to become the 36th woman in U.S. history to reach 100 caps
7 Goals Carli Lloyd needs to reach 100
12 Number of different U.S. players to score a goal in 2016
99 Minutes on the field per goal averaged by Abby Wambach in her career
104 Minutes on the field per goal averaged by Alex Morgan in her career
130 Minutes on the field per goal averaged by Mia Hamm in her career

JILL ELLIS FACT FILE: After leading the USA to the Women’s World Cup title, U.S. head coach Jill Ellis was rewarded with a multi-year contract extension on Aug. 5, 2015. She is the third U.S. coach – and first female American coach — to win a Women’s World Cup at the senior level, following Anson Dorrance (1991) and Tony DiCicco (1999). Ellis was named the 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Soccer on Jan. 11, 2016, at the FIFA Awards Gala in Zurich, Switzerland. She was also named the CONCACAF Female Coach of the Year. Ellis, who previously served two stints as interim head coach of the U.S. WNT, is the eighth official head coach in U.S. history. She coached seven games as interim coach in 2012 (5-0-2) and two games (1-0-1) as interim in 2014 before she officially came on board, which gave her a 6-0-3 record before she ever was formally named the head coach in May of 2014. She has gone 47-3-10 since then for an overall record of 53-3-13, earning her 50th career WNT win on July 22 vs. Costa Rica. Since taking over as head coach, Ellis has won four tournaments: the 2015 Algarve Cup, the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the 2016 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship and the 2016 SheBelieves Cup. After an early exit from the 2016 Olympics, Ellis will now start focusing on building a team to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup,

• Prior to becoming head coach, Ellis had extensive experience in the U.S. Women’s National Team programs having served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team under Pia Sundhage, helping the team to a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. She has served two stints as head coach of the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team, guiding the squad to the CONCACAF title in 2010 and to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Germany.
• Ellis also had two stints as the head coach of the U.S. Under-21 Women’s National Team, the second starting in the middle of 2005, after which she guided the team to the Nordic Cup in Sweden. She also coached the U-21s to the Nordic Cup title in Germany in 2000.
• Ellis was a scout for the USA at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and has served as an assistant coach with the U.S. U-21s and U-16 Girls’ National Teams.
• Ellis joined U.S. Soccer full-time after a highly successful 12-year run as the head women’s soccer coach for the UCLA Bruins. Ellis led UCLA to eight NCAA Final Fours, including seven in a row from 2003-2009, and won six straight conference titles from 2003-2008. She finished her time in Westwood with a record of 229-45-14. Ellis, who was also head coach at the University of Illinois, has an all-time collegiate coaching record of 248-63-14.
• She was the 2000 NSCAA National Coach of the Year after leading the Bruins to the NCAA Final in just her second season as head coach.
• Ellis arrived in Westwood after heading the University of Illinois women’s soccer program for two years. In 1998, she brought the Fighting Illini to a 12-8 record and a first Big Ten Tournament berth. Prior to coaching at Illinois, Ellis served as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia for one year (1996-97), at Maryland for three years (1994-96) and at North Carolina State for another three years (1988-90). As an assistant coach at North Carolina State, Ellis helped the Wolfpack secure the 1988 ACC title and an NCAA Final Four appearance.
• A forward during her playing days at the College of William & Mary from 1984-87, Ellis was a Third-Team All-American in 1987. In 1984, Ellis helped Braddock Road in Virginia to the Under-19 club national championship.
• Ellis was the keynote speaker at the 2016 commencement exercises at William & Mary. Her theme for the speech: “Be bold.”
• Ellis grew up in Portsmouth, England, and came to the United States in 1981 at the age of 15. She also lived in Singapore for two years while her father helped to develop a national soccer program in that country. She earned her B.A. in English Literature and Composition from the College of William & Mary in 1988 and currently resides in Miami. She has a USSF “A” coaching license.

AT THE GEORGIA DOME: The USA has played in Atlanta just twice before, once back in 1999 before the Women’s World Cup in a 7-0 victory against Japan at Dakalb Memorial Stadium and then once at the Georgia Dome, an 8-0 win against Russia in February of 2014.

WNT HISTORY INDOORS: It does not happen often, but every once in a while the U.S. Women’s National Team plays indoors. The first indoor game was played by the U.S. Women on June 21, 1993, during a 3-0 victory against Canada at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Since then, the U.S. Women’s Team has played 19 matches indoors in its history and posted an overall record of 18-1-0 under a roof. The only loss? The USA’s most recent “dome game” against China PR in New Orleans in Abby Wambach’s final match.

It’s interesting to note that the USA played three games in stadiums with roofs at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, but only in Montreal, which has a fixed roof, was the match indoors. The USA’s two matches at BC Place in Vancouver, including the World Cup Final, were played with the roof open. The USA played five consecutive matches indoors with the roof closed at BC Place at the 2012 Olympic Qualifying tournament, which is a good thing, as it was freezing outside in January.

IN FOCUS: NETHERLANDS
KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE VOETBALBOND (KNVB)
FIFA World Ranking: 12
UEFA Ranking: 6
World Cup Appearances: 1 (2015)
Best World Cup finish: Round of 16 (2015)
Record vs. USA: 1-5-0
Head Coach: ‎Arjan van der Laan

Netherlands Women’s National Team Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Sari van Veenendaal (Arsenal, ENG), 16-Angela Christ (PSV), 23-Loes Geurts (Kopparbergs/ Göteborg FC, SWE)
DEFENDERS (8): 2-Desirre van Lunteren (Ajax), 3-Stafanie van der Gragt (Bayern Munchen, GER), 4-Mandy van den Berg (Liverpool FC, ENG), 5-Merel van Dongen (Ajax), 15-Kika van Es (Achilles ’29), 17-Kelly Zeeman (Ajax, NED), 20-Dominique Janssen (Arsenal, ENG), 29-Siri Worm (FC Twente)
MIDFIELDERS (6 ): 6-Dekker, Anouk (Montpellier HSC, FRA), 8-Sherida Spitse (LSK Kvinner FK, NOR), 10-Danielle van de Donk (Arsenal, ENG), 12-Tessel Middag (Manchester City, ENG), 14-Renée Slegers (Linköping FC, SWE), 18-Jackie Groenen (1. FFC Frankfurt, GER)
FORWARDS (5): 7-Shanice van de Sanden (Liverpool FC, ENG), 9-Vivianne Miedema (Bayern Munchen, GER), 11-Lieke Martens (FC Rosengård, SWE), 21-Lineth Beerensteyn (FC Twente), 22-Eshly Bakker (Ajax), 26-Ellen Jansen (FC Twente)

NETHERLANDS NOTES:

• Netherlands made its first appearance in a Women’s World Cup in 2015 and performed well, finishing third in Group A behind second place China PR on the basis of just one less goal scored.
• Netherlands met Japan in the Round of 16 and fell 2-1.
• All four of the Netherlands games at the World Cup were close affairs, defeating New Zealand 1-0, losing to China PR 1-0 and tying Canada 1-1. Lieke Martens scored against the Kiwis, and Kirsten Van De Ven scored against Canada and the lone goal against Japan.
• The Netherlands had a hard road to Canada. Conceding a late equalizer to Belgium in their fifth game in Group 5 of the European qualifying meant two dropped points, which turned out to be all that separated the Dutch from group winners Norway. Aside from that draw and an away defeat to the Norwegians, the Netherlands won all their games in the group, a record that was good enough to give them a place in the playoffs as one of the four best runners-up. After disposing of Scotland 4-1 on aggregate, the Dutch faced Italy in the playoff final, with a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg leaving their hopes hanging in the balance. Young star Vivianne Miedema came to the rescue in the return leg, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win that secured Holland a place in the Women’s World Cup for the first time.
• Though only 20, Vivianne Miedema is the Netherlands’ star. Having sharpened her finishing skills in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, she scored a remarkable 16 goals in the World Cup qualifiers, including all three of her side’s goals in that playoff final. She already has 26 goals in her first 37 caps for Holland.
• The Netherlands most experienced player is midfielder Sherida Spitse (120 caps and 17 goals), who is one of two players on the roster with more than 100 caps, joining veteran goalkeeper Loes Geurts.
• Netherlands head coach Arjan van der Laan took over the team in September of 2015, succeeding Roger Reijners. His first major tournament in charge was the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where the Netherlands competed with Sweden, Norway and Switzerland for the final European place in the 2016 Olympics. The Netherlands finished in second place, with group winner Sweden earning the Olympic ticket.
• The Netherlands will host the next European Women’s Championship joining the 15 qualifiers in the final tournament in July/August 2017. As the squad is not going through qualifying, the match against the USA serves as excellent preparation for what surely will be one of the biggest tournaments in Dutch women’s soccer history.
• Fifteen of the Netherlands 23-player roster play club soccer outside the country, including every midfielder listed. The players play across Europe in England, Germany, Sweden, Norway and France for some of the top women’s clubs in the world.

USA VS. NETHERLANDS

The USA is 5-1-0 all-time against the Netherlands and won the most recent meeting which took place in The Hague in April of 2013, getting a goal from Tobin Heath and two from Christen Press in the 3-1 win. Manon Melis scored for Holland. Prior to that, the teams hadn’t met since 2006, a 2-0 U.S. win at the Peace Queen Cup in Suwon, South Korea.
The teams met in a pair of friendlies in 1999 with the USA winning both. The 1996 meeting was the first match for the U.S. Women in California, a 6-0 win at Cal-State Fullerton in which Julie Foudy scored a spectacular full volley from distance. Perhaps she was making up for the first meeting between the teams which produced the Netherland’s only win in the series back in 1991, a 4-3 victory for the Dutch that was also Foudy’s first and last appearance as a center back for the United States.

LAST TIME…

On the field for the USA:
Sept. 15, 2016 – MAPFRE Stadium; Columbus, Ohio
International Friendly

USA 9 Lloyd 1, 60, 81; Press 4; O’Reilly 5; Heath 35; Dunn 70; Morgan 86, 90+2
THA 0

Lineups:
USA: 22-Ashlyn Harris; 5-Kelley O’Hara, 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 8-Julie Johnston (16-Crystal Dunn, 64), 11-Ali Krieger (7-Meghan Klingenberg, 46); 3-Allie Long (21-Emily Sonnett, 46), 20-Samantha Mewis (19-Lindsey Horan, 46), 10-Carli Lloyd; 9-Heather O’Reilly (capt.), 12-Christen Press (13-Alex Morgan, 46), 17-Tobin Heath (15-Megan Rapinoe, 46)
Subs not used: 18-Alyssa Naeher
Head Coach: Jill Ellis

THA: 18-Yada Sengyong, 2-Kanjanaporn Saenkhun, 4-Duangnapa Sritala (capt.), 6-Pikul Khueanpet, 7-Silawan Intamee (20-Wilaiporn Boothduang, 82), 9-Warunee Phetwiset, 10-Sunisa Srangthaisong, 11-Alisa Rukpinij (17-Anootsara Maijarern, 65), 12-Rattikan Thongsombut (21-Kanjana Sung-ngoen, 46), 13-Orathai Srimanee (8-Naphat Seesraum, 65), 19-Pitsamai Sornsai (23-Nisa Romyen, 82)
Subs not used: 1-Waraporn Boonsing, 3-Natthakarn Chinwong, 5-Ainon Phancha, 14-Thanatta Chawong, 16-Khwanruedee Saengchan
Head Coach: Spencer Prior

LAST TIME…
On the field for the USA vs. the Netherlands:
April 9, 2013 – Kyocero Stadium; The Hague, Netherlands
International Friendly

USA 3 Heath 36; Press 45, 60
NED 1 Melis 81

Lineups:
USA: USA: 24-Ashlyn Harris; 11-Ali Krieger, 19-Rachel Buehler (capt.), 4-Becky Sauerbrunn, 5-Kelley O’Hara (13-Alex Morgan,79); 9-Heather O’Reilly (22-Meghan Klingenberg, 65), 16-Yael Averbuch (12-Lauren Cheney,79), 25-Julie Johnston, 17-Tobin Heath; 23-Christen Press, 2-Sydney Leroux
Substitutions Not Used: 3-Christie Rampone, 6-Crystal Dunn, 7-Shannon Boxx, 8-Kristie Mewis, 14-Whitney Engen, 15-Megan Rapinoe, 18-Nicole Barnhart, 20-Abby Wambach, 21-Adrianna Franch
Head coach: Tom Sermanni

NED: 1-Loes Geurts; 2-Dyanne Bito, 3-Daphne Koster (capt.) (14-Leonne Stentler,57), 4-Mandy van den Berg, 5-Claudia van den Heiligenberg, 6-Anouk Dekker (19-Daniëlle van de Donk, 46), 7-Kirsten van den Ven (22-Sylvia Smit, 80), 8-Anouk Hoogendijk, 9-Lieke Martens (20-Marlous Pieëte, 83), 10-Sherida Spitse, 11-Manon Melis
Substitutions Not Used: 12-Kim Dolstra, 13-Mirte Roelvink, 15-Siri Worm, 16-Sari van Veenendaal, 17-Desiree van Lunteren, 18-Tessel Middag, 21-Chantal de Ridder, 23-Laura du Ry
Head coach: Roger Reijners