Lindsey Horan looking like preferred to captain USWNT at World Cup

CARSON, Calif. — It’s not that calling a captain for the World Cup is a huge secret for the U.S. females’s nationwide group, it’s simply that Vlatko Andonovski isn’t prepared to make it public.

That’s duetothefactthat he desires to inform his group . This would have occurred Monday night, when all 23 gamers called to this summerseason’s World Cup lineup showedup in Los Angeles for training camp, however some East Coast flights were postponed. Backup goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury couldn’t get in till early Tuesday earlymorning.

While that undoubtedly produces a bit of secret around the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group with three-and-a-half weeks left priorto its veryfirst group phase match versus Vietnam, it’s not that difficult to surmise who will wear the armband this summertime in Australia and New Zealand.

Signs point to Lindsey Horan.

For beginners, she’s used the armband priorto and her obligations as a leader on this group haveactually grown tremendously over the years. 

She’s a veteran gamer — particularly a 2019 World Cup champ, a two-time Olympian and a Champions League champ with Olympique Lyon. 

Longtime USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who will missouton the World Cup due to a irritating injury, has openly called Horan her “co-captain.” 

And at Tuesday’s USWNT media day, Horan signedupwith stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe in a official press conference setting. They were the just 3 gamers to do so, as the other 20 were seated at tables around a big space at Dignity Health Sports Park for more casual interviews with pressreporters.

Andonovski stated he hasactually made a choice on Sauerbrunn’s follower, however was coy with hints. Could it be Morgan (who will turn 34 on July 2) or Rapinoe (who turns 38 on July 5)? Sure — they are the most identifiable dealswith and function designs on this group and haveactually been for years. But the 29-year-old Horan represents the next generation that will lead the program forward.

And gamers can see that.

Take 18-year-old budding superstar Alyssa Thompson, who simply finished from high school and is the youngest gamer on this team. She’s neverever played in a significant competition with the senior nationwide group priorto and called Horan asking for guidance. Like, what in the world must she pack for a journey like this? The USWNT starts training camp in Los Angeles this week and takesatrip to the Bay Area for a send-off match versus Wales on July 9 priorto heading Down Under. If the USWNT makes it to the World Cup last on Aug. 20, gamers won’t be house for 2 months.

“The finest phone call ever,” Horan stated, smiling. “She desired to understand the basics for packaging for the World Cup and I had no concept what to inform her however it was so charming.” 

Thompson, who figures to be a significant gamer for the USWNT for years to come, might have reached out to anyperson. She couldn’t rather put her finger on it Tuesday, however has this sensation about Horan. 

“She’s extremely inviting and she has assisted me from the starting,” stated Thompson, who made her veryfirst cap last October. “She’s constantly been looking out for me and I might feel that from her. She desires to assistance me and she’s been in my position inthepast.”

Thompson began her veryfirst USWNT videogame on April 11 and played the complete 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Ireland. She stated Horan assisted her through that considerable minute.

“I was on the left side and she was simply making sure that I was OKAY to play [on this stage],” Thompson stated. “She was like, [you’re] here for a factor and informed me to be positive in myself.”

Other gamers notification it too. Starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher called Horan “the meaning of a soccer addict.”

“She’s constantly strolling around with her iPad viewing some videogame,” Naeher continued. “She researchstudies the videogame, she views a lot of the videogames around the world and she brings that to the training pitch. She brings it to the locker space. She’s simply enthusiastic about the videogame and I believe that’s infectious.”

If Horan understood what colleagues stated about her, she’d mostlikely blush. Like her coach Sauerbrunn, she doesn’t lookfor the spotlight or attention. When Horan was a young gamer veryfirst beginning out on the nationwide group and in the NWSL on the Portland Thorns, she directed all concerns and issues to Sauerbrunn. 

“She’s my veryfirst call or my veryfirst text,” Horan stated, including that she chose early on she would follow Sauerbrunn’s lead. Now, she hopes to be the exactsame type of function design for her colleagues, specifically in Sauerbrunn’s lack. 

“For me, coming into my own function and my own type of leader, I believe we all have various variations of that,” Horan stated. “And it’s essential to discover from [ Morgan and Rapinoe] and whatever they’ve done priorto this World Cup and priorto my time here. But likewise I desire to make sure I have a function that I can fill on this group as well.”

And if Horan’s captaincy is verified, the duty won’t be lost on her.

“The one thing Becky did inform me was to value this minute,” Horan continued. “Appreciate using the captain’s armband if I get the opportunity, value being able to lead this group and take in every single bit of that duetothefactthat it does not come around a lot and you being able to have this function, it’s the most extraordinary thing in the world.”

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She formerly composed for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” released in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.