USWNT vs. Costa Rica: Match Preview & Game Notes for July 16 Send-Off Match presented by Coca-Cola

Following a 1-0 victory over Mexico on July 13 at Red Bull Arena, the U.S. Women’s National Team will now play its final match before the Paris Olympics, taking on Costa Rica on July 16 at Audi Field in the 2024 Send-Off Match, presented by Coca-Cola. Tuesday’s match in Washington, D.C. will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET with broadcast coverage available on TNT, truTV, Universo, Max and Peacock.

Following the final whistle, fans in attendance are encouraged to stay and be part of the Send-Off Ceremony, during which each of the 22 players – the 18 players on the roster plus four alternates — heading to the Olympics will be recognized prior to departing for France. The celebration will include pyrotechnics, in-stadium video displays and more to celebrate the team’s impending departure for Paris 2024.

Fans can follow all the action from Saturday’s match via X (formerly Twitter – @USWNT), Instagram (@USWNT), Facebook and the official U.S. Soccer App.

LAST TIME OUT

In its penultimate match before the Olympics, the USWNT defeated Mexico 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., avenging its only loss of the year. The USA outshot Mexico 17-3 on the afternoon, but didn’t find the breakthrough until the 64th minute, when Sophia Smith was played in by Mallory Swanson in the left side of the penalty area and she curled in a right-footed attempt for her team-leading fifth goal of 2024. It also marked Smith’s first time scoring in back-to-back games for the USA, also finding the back of the net in the June 4 win over Korea Republic in Minnesota.

With the win, the U.S. now has three wins in three games under new head coach Emma Hayes, all of them coming via shutout. Hayes used all six allotted substitutes on Tuesday, including giving a first cap to 23-year-old midfielder Croix Bethune, who will be an alternate on the Olympic roster. Bethune is enjoying a standout rookie season with the Washington Spirit and came on in the 81st minute to become the 261st player all-time to earn a cap for the USWNT.

WILLIAMS REPLACES MACARIO ON OLYMPIC ROSTER

On June 26, Hayes announced the 18-player roster for the Paris Olympics. Midfielder and 2020 Olympian Catarina Macario was initially named to the roster but was unable to prepare physically for the Olympic tournament due to consistent irritation in her right knee and on July 12, she was officially replaced on the 18-player roster by Lynn Williams, who was originally named to the team as an alternate. Defender Emily Sams, who earned her first USWNT call-up as a training player for this camp and is available for selection against Costa Rica, replaces Williams as one of the four alternates.

The squad now heading to France features eight players from the 2020 Olympic Team, 11 players from the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad and four players named to their first roster at a senior world championship. The 18-player roster has an average age of 27.0 and averages nearly four years younger than the roster for the 2020 Olympics. The Olympic roster is broken down by position into two goalkeepers, six defenders, four midfielders and six forwards.

U.S. OLYMPIC WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 18-Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), 1-Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

DEFENDERS (6): 12-Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 2-Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG), 4-Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), 6-Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), 13-Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 14-Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

MIDFIELDERS (4): 3-Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), 17-Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), 10-Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA), 16-Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

FORWARDS (6): 7-Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), 5-Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), 15-Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), 11-Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), 9-Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars), 8-Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

ALTERNATES (4): 20-Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), 22-Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), 19-Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit), 21-Emily Sams (Orlando Pride)

2024 MEDIA GUIDE

The 2024 U.S. Women’s National Team Media Guide is available for download. The Media Guide features all the history and statistics for the USWNT, as well as full bios on technical staff and the current top players, information on the USA’s Youth Women’s National Teams and general important information on U.S. Soccer.

INSIDE THE SERIES: USA vs. COSTA RICA

Tuesday’s match will be the 18th matchup all-time between the USA and Costa Rica, with the Americans winning all 17 previous meetings. The USA’s 17 consecutive wins against Costa Rica are its most against any single opponent without a loss in program history.

Ten of the previous 17 matchups between the teams have come in World Cup or Olympic Qualifying, including the most recent matchup between the sides in the semifinals of the 2022 Concacaf W Championship. The USA defeated Costa Rica 3-0 on July 14, 2022, in Monterrey, Mexico to advance to the final of the Concacaf W Championship, where the USA then defeated Canada in the final to secure its spot in Paris 2024. Emily Sonnett scored the first goal of her international career to open the scoring for the Americans and Swanson added to the lead just before halftime. Midfielder Ashley Sanchez rounded out the scoring with a goal deep into second-half stoppage time and the Americans recorded their fourth consecutive clean sheet of the tournament.

Prior to the meeting in Monterrey, the teams last met in February 2020 during Olympic Qualifying. The USA won that match in Houston 6-0 to finish first in its group. Christen Press and Samantha Mewis both scored twice for the Americans while Lindsey Horan and Jessica McDonald also found the back of the net.

This will be the first time the USA and Costa Rica have played in a friendly competition since November 2019, a 6-0 win for the USA in the second match under then head coach Vlatko Andonovski.

USA IN D.C.

This will be the USWNT’s 12th all-time match in Washington, D.C., having won 10 of the first 11 matches in the nation’s capital – the lone loss coming to France in 2017.

While Tuesday’s match at Audi Field will be the first ever meeting between the USA and Costa Rica in the Washington, D.C. area, the match will be a homecoming of sorts for several players on the U.S. roster, many of whom have ties to the nation’s capital. Four players on the USA’s 22-player roster currently compete for the Washington Spirit, those being Casey Krueger, Trinity Rodman, Hal Hershfelt and recently-capped Croix Bethune. Another four U.S. players – Crystal Dunn, Mallory Swanson, Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle – previously played for the Spirit, with Dunn and Swanson being former No. 1 draft picks by the Spirit and Sonnett helping the club to its first NWSL Championship in 2021.

Defender Emily Fox hails from Ashburn, Virginia, located less than 40 miles west northwest of Washington, D.C., and will be making her second trip to her home area with the USWNT.

OFF TO THE OLYMPICS

The USWNT kicks off its campaign at the 2024 Summer Olympics – the eighth Olympic Games to feature women’s soccer and eighth to feature the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team – on July 25, one day before the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, beginning Group B play against Zambia at Stade de Nice in Nice (9 p.m. local / 3 p.m. ET). Zambia defeated Morocco 3-2 on aggregate in the two-leg playoff in CAF Qualifying in April to secure the 12th and final spot in the Olympic field and recently tied New Zealand 1-1 in a Pre-Olympic friendly.

After opening the tournament in Nice, the Americans will play in Marseille for their second match at Stade de Marseille and will face Germany on July 28 (9 p.m. local / 3 p.m. ET). The USA will finish group play against Australia on July 31 (7 p.m. local / 1 p.m. ET) at Stade de Marseille. Located in the south for France, Nice is nearly 600 miles from Paris near France’s border with Monaco and Italy. Marseille, located 125 miles west of Nice, is the second-largest city in France.

The top two teams from each group along with the two best third-place finishers will advance to the knockout rounds.

USA TEAM & ROSTER NOTES

• This will be the USWNT’s second match all-time at Audi Field, the first coming in a 2-1 win over Nigeria in September 2022.
• Four of the players on this roster have 100+ caps, led by midfielder and team captain Lindsey Horan with 149 caps. Crystal Dunn has 148 international appearances followed by Alyssa Naeher (105 caps) and Rose Lavelle (101).
• Eight of the 22 players available for selection against Costa Rica have 20 caps or fewer, including two uncapped players in Emily Sams and midfielder Hal Hershfelt. Defender Jenna Nighswonger has the fewest caps on the 18-player Olympic roster with just 10 international appearances.
• Seven players on this roster – Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith, Hal Hershfelt, Jenna Nighswonger, Trinity Rodman, Korbin Albert, Jaedyn Shaw – were born after the historic 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this summer. Smith became the first player born after the ’99 World Cup to earn a USWNT cap when she debuted for the U.S. on November 27, 2020, against the Netherlands.
• Fourteen of the 22 players on this roster were born after the 1996 Olympics, the first ever Olympics to feature women’s soccer.
• Horan is the top scorer on this roster with 35 international goals, followed by forward Mallory Swanson with 34, Dunn with 25 and Lavelle with 24.
• Horan also leads the U.S. with 848 total minutes played in 2024, followed by Sam Coffey (767), Alyssa Naeher (750), Emily Fox (725) and Tierna Davidson (720).
• Eleven different players have scored so far for the USWNT in 2024 – led by five goals each from Shaw and Smith, four from Horan, two goals each from Alex Morgan, Olivia Moultrie, Tierna Davidson, Mallory Swanson and Jenna Nighswonger and one each from Dunn, Lynn Williams and Lily Yohannes.
• Trinity Rodman and Rose Lavelle lead the U.S. with three assists apiece this year, follow by Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith and Midge Purce with two each. Nine other players have one assist on the year.
• Overall, 18 different players have been directly involved in a goal for the USA in 2024, led by seven goal involvements from Smith (5 goals, 2 assists) and six from Shaw (5 goals, 1 assist).
• Eleven players called up for this camp were on the USA’s roster at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and seven – Davidson, Dunn, Horan, Lavelle, Morgan, Swanson and Sonnett – were on the roster for the 2019 Women’s World Cup Champions.

IN FOCUS: COSTA RICA | FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
Current FIFA World Ranking: 44
Concacaf Ranking: 5
Olympic Appearances: 0
Record vs. USA: 0W-17L-0D
Coach: Beni Rubido (ESP)

COSTA RICA WOMEN’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM ROSTER BY POSITION (CLUB)

GOALKEEPERS (2): 1-Noelia Bermúdez (Alajuelense), 23-Daniela Solera (Atlas, MEX)

DEFENDERS (7): 2-Gabriela Guillén (Alajuelense), 3-María Paula Coto (Alajuelense), 4-Mariana Benavides (Millonarios, COL), 6-Jimena González (Sporting FC), 12-María Paula Elizondo (Saprissa FF), 15-María José Morales (Dimas Escazú), 20-Fabiola Villalobos (Alajuelense)

MIDFIELDERS (6): 5-Yaniela Arias (Dimas Escazú), 8-Priscila Rodríguez (Saprissa FF), 10-Gloriana Villalobos (Saprissa FF), 11-Raquel Rodríguez (Angel City FC, USA), 13-Emilie Valenciano (Alajuelense), 19-Alexandra Pinell (Alajuelense)

FORWARDS (7): 7-Melissa Herrera (Xolos Tijuana, MEX), 9-María Paula Salas (Atlas, MEX), 14-Priscila Chinchilla (Zenit de San Petersburgo, RUS), 16-Ángela Mesén (Alajuelense), 17-Alexa Herrera (Alajuelense), 21-Tanisha Fonseca (Sporting FC), 22-Sianyf Agüero (Alajuelense)

COSTA RICA TEAM NOTES

• Costa Rica head coach Beni Rubido has selected a 22-player roster for Tuesday’s friendly against the USA, headlined by midfielder and team captain Raquel “Rocky” Rodríguez.
• The 30-year-old Rodriguez scored Costa Rica’s first ever World Cup goal back in 2015 and is the country’s all-time leading scorer. Born in Costa Rica, Rodriguez played collegiately at Penn State University where she won the MAC Herman Trophy in 2015 as the top player in college soccer. She was selected No. 2 overall by Sky Blue FC in the 2016 NWSL College Draft, following No. 1 draft pick Emily Sonnett, and played three seasons for Sky Blue FC, the final under now USWNT assistant coach Denise Reddy. She won NWSL Rookie of the Year honors in 2016. Rodriguez currently plays for Angel City FC in the NWSL, joining the club in the offseason after spending the previous four seasons with the Portland Thorns.
• After participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2015, and despite not qualifying for the 2019 WWC, Costa Rica has been making excellent progress in the women’s game. Qualifying for the 2023 FIFA WWC is a positive sign of that.
• Drawn into Group C in 2023, Costa Rica played the entirety of its group stage in Australia and finished fourth in its group, which featured Zambia, Japan and eventual champions Spain. Forward Melissa Herrera scored Costa Rica’s lone goal of the tournament, that coming in a 3-1 defeat to Zambia in the third and final group stage match.
• At its first World Cup appearance in 2015, Las Ticas distinguished themselves, tying two games in group play (1-1 with Spain and 2-2 with South Korea) while losing one (0-1 to Brazil). Melissa Herrera and Karla Villalobos, as well as Raquel Rodriguez netted once each at the World Cup.