USWNT projected lineup, starting XI: Who will replace suspended Rose Lavelle; Why Alex Morgan shouldn’t start

The United States women’s national team will face Sweden on Sunday as the knockout stage begins in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USWNT finished the group stage as the second-place team in Group E and their Round of 16 match meant they would face the Group G winners. There’s no shortage of history between the two teams during major international tournaments, but this tournament has shown us this is a new era of women’s football. 

Let’s take a look at how to watch the upcoming match and a lineup prediction

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Lineup prediction

USWNT starting lineup prediction: Naeher, Fox, Girma, Ertz, Dunn, Mewis, Horan, Sanchez, Rodman, Smith, Williams.  

The Stars and Stripes have a deep bench mixed with experienced players and their own World Cup debutant players. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski didn’t rotate much during the group stage and now he’s going to have his hand at a forced adjustment. Rose Lavelle made her first start in the final group game against Portugal but picked up a yellow card, her second of the tournament, and she will be unavailable against Sweden due to yellow card accumulation. 

It’s tough to gauge just which line the coaching staff wants to tinker with moving forward because of the lack of rotation. There has been a disconnect on the pitch, particularly in the midfield and attacking lines, and the lack of cohesion has paused the goal-scoring for the team. Does the team break up the center back pairing of Naomi Girma and Julie Ertz? Do one of the starting forwards begin the game on the bench? Will Ashley Sanchez and Alana Cook finally touch the pitch? The possibilities are endless. 

Round of 16 means the possibility of extra time and penalties are in play. There will need to be adequate planning for every scenario, which means some veteran players might be bench players. There’s been plenty of highlight tape on the USWNT and their midfield struggles. Netherlands and Portugal committed numbers in order to disrupt the counter-press, so USWNT needs their plan A, plan B, and plans L-M-N-O-P. It’s the knockout round, the time to shake things up is now or never for this team. 

That means, at least from kickoff, dropping veteran Alex Morgan to the bench, and going with the more dynamic front line of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Lynn Williams. In midfield it means replacing Lavelle by giving Ashley Sanchez her World Cup debut and dropping Andi Sullivan for Kristie Mewis.

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