Rapinoe, Morgan lead US bid for third straight World Cup victory

NEW YORK: Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan will play in their fourth Women's World Cup alongside a number of new faces as United States head coach Vlatko Andonovski unveiled his squad on Wednesday (Jun 21) ahead of their bid for an unprecedented third consecutive title.

Nearly two decades sit between the oldest and youngest players, with 18-year-old forward Alyssa Thompson joining 37-year-old Rapinoe at the tournament starting on Jul 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

""We'll do anything possible to help this team make history," Andonovski told reporters. "We want to do it for the players, we want to do it for the team, we want to do it for the community, we want to do it for this country.

"We want to do something that has never been done before."

The top-ranked Americans are fielding one of their least experienced squads in recent memory, with 14 of the 23 players going to their first World Cup, compared to 11 in 2019 and seven in 2015.

Key defender Naomi Girma, 23, earned a spot after bursting on to the scene last year and uncapped 25-year-old midfielder Savannah DeMelo was a surprise inclusion amid a strong National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) season.

"Based on the needs that we have in terms of the opponents and different situations that we may face, we see (DeMelo) being very important for us going forward," said Andonovski, who led the team to Olympic bronze in Tokyo.

Up front, Andonovski has put his faith in 22-year-old NWSL MVP Sophia Smith and 21-year-old Trinity Rodman along with the 33-year-old Morgan.

"We believe in the quality of the team, we believe in the support that we have and we think that we have what it takes to make it possible," said Andonovski, who took the reins from Jill Ellis in 2019.

Five players, Rapinoe,