USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn misses the Women’s World Cup with a foot injury

The USA women’s national team will start the 2023 World Cup with another notable injury.

According to The Athletic, USWNT captain and centre-back Becky Sauerbrunn will miss the tournament in Australia and New Zealand due to a foot injury sustained in April.

Sauerbrunn confirmed the news hours later in a statement via Twitter, writing, “Heartbroken’s not even half of it.”

The development will cost the USWNT one of their longest-serving players and a key defensive presence. Sauerbrunn is the team’s active leader with 207 caps and has competed in the last three World Cups, winning titles in 2015 and 2019. She was also part of the team that won the gold medal in 2012.

In Sauerbrunn’s absence, the USWNT has a few veterans to turn to as options for wearing the armband. Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Kelley O’Hara all have more than a decade of national team experience and will feature in the World Cup squad – O’Hara wasn’t a star but The Athletic reports she made the team. It’s likely that Morgan will get the nod as the intended starter.

The team is now also likely to feature the duo of Alana Cook and Naomi Girma at centre-back, flanked by full-backs Emily Fox and Crystal Dunn.

USWNT recovering with injuries ahead of Women’s World Cup

Sauerbrunn is just the latest USWNT mainstay to be sidelined ahead of the World Cup.

The team have already lost star striker Mallory Swanson to a torn patellar tendon and Catarina Macario to ongoing problems with a torn cruciate ligament. Both players have suffered huge losses, but the USWNT is still effective and available with names like Morgan, Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams.

Midfielder Sam Mewis has also been out since 2021 with a knee injury and will miss the World Cup.

That may not be the extent of the losses. Midfielder Rose Lavelle has been absent since April and still appears to be a question mark ahead of the tournament which begins on July 20.