The final countdown: USWNT hosts Ireland for last friendlies ahead of Women’s World Cup

The U.S. Women’s National Team is back in action this weekend with two final friendlies against the Republic of Ireland ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Two-time World Cup champion Julie Ertz and 2022 BioSteel U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year and 2022 NWSL MVP Sophia Smith are among the marquee players set to make their return to action after extended absences on the USWNT roster.

The 31-year-old Ertz, who celebrated her birthday on Thursday, returns for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and after giving birth to her first child, a son, in August 2022. The 22-year-old Smith, who opened the 2023 NWSL season with four goals and one assist in two games for the Portland Thorns, also returns after missing the year’s first two USWNT events due to a foot injury.

The first matchup between the USWNT and Ireland is Saturday afternoon at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, followed by the second friendly on Tuesday at the new CITYPARK in St. Louis, Mo.

Ertz told media earlier this week that she began exploring a return to the USWNT this winter, participating in private workouts with a high-performance coach and training sessions with an MLS academy team, which led to what she calls a “refreshed love for the game.”

“I don’t want to go back and be the player that I was because I want to be better,” said Ertz, who will be honored before Saturday’s game for earning her 100th cap, a milestone she actually achieved in March 2020, just before the onset of the global pandemic. “I know it seems weird being out (for so) long, but …I don’t feel like I’ve been gone as long as I have. I feel good, and I love the sport differently than I did (before) and I thought I loved it then. But taking a step away and kind of having a