U.S. national team head coach Pia Sundhage named her pre-Olympic Qualifying roster of 29 players on Monday. The team will meet at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. from Jan. 7-15 before the roster is trimmed to 20 players for the tournament in Vancouver from Jan. 19-29.
All 20 players from the 2011 World Cup roster have been called into camp. With the team’s successful second place finish in Germany last summer, there should be few surprises out of the roster that Sundhage will take to Vancouver.
CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying is crammed into a 10 day period with the U.S. opening Group B play on Jan. 20 against the Dominican Republic at 10:30 p.m. ET. That is followed by a match against Guatemala on Jan. 22 and a final group game against Mexico on Jan. 22. The semifinals take place on Jan. 27 and the final on Jan. 29. All games will be played at B.C. Place, home of MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps.
The two teams to qualify for the final on Jan. 29 will advance to the Olympics in London this summer and join the 12 team field for women’s football. Here is the full pre-Olympic Qualifying training camp roster:
GOALKEEPERS (4): Nicole Barnhart (out of contract), Ashlyn Harris (Western New York Flash), Jill Loyden (out of contract), Hope Solo (out of contract)
DEFENDERS (9): Rachel Buehler (out of contract), Stephanie Cox (out of contract), Whitney Engen (Western New York Flash), Meghan Klingenberg (Boston Breakers), Ali Krieger (FFC Frankfurt), Amy LePeilbet (out of contract), Heather Mitts (out of contract), Christie Rampone (out of contract), Becky Sauerbrunn (Sky Blue FC)
MIDFIELDERS (11): Shannon Boxx (out of contract), Tobin Heath (out of contract), Lori Lindsey (out of contract), Carli Lloyd (out of contract), Kristie Mewis (Boston College), Christine Nairn (Penn State), Kelley O’Hara (out of contract), Heather O’Reilly (Boston Breakers), Megan Rapinoe (out of contract), Ingrid Wells (FC Göteborg), Keelin Winters (Boston Breakers)
FORWARDS (5): Lauren Cheney (out of contract), Sydney Leroux (UCLA), Alex Morgan (Western New York Flash), Amy Rodriguez (out of contract), Abby Wambach (out of contract)
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Also in the news on Monday:
Steve Swanson has named his 30 player roster for the U.S. U-20 training camp in San Diego from Jan. 5-19. Click here for the full roster.
