Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh named to Olympic soccer team

Midfielder Megan Rapinoe and teenage forward Mallory Pugh were among 18 players named Tuesday to the U.S. women’s soccer team for next month’s Olympics in Brazil.

Rapinoe, who won a gold medal four years ago in London, was considered an unlikely selection this time after tearing a knee ligament in December. But she has recovered more quickly than expected, proving to U.S. Coach Jill Ellis that she deserves a place on the team.

And Pugh, a UCLA recruit, didn’t earn her first cap with the national team until January, yet leads the U.S. in assists this year with seven.

Both fit on a roster Ellis said was constructed with more than just this summer’s tournament in Brazil in mind.

“This roster is very balanced,” said Ellis, who chose 11 first-time Olympians and 14 holdovers from last summer’s World Cup championship team. “It’s not just having your eye on the Olympics this summer; it’s having your eye on what’s beyond that. Getting younger players experience in this world event will help.

“It’s a great infusion of new players and that’s actually been good. It’s refreshing, as a staff, to work with different faces and trying to blend them.”

Pugh, who turned 18 in April, is the only amateur on the team and the second-youngest Olympian in U.S. women’s team history behind Cindy Parlow, who was a month younger when she played in the 1996 Games.

Carli Lloyd, the reigning world player of the year who is coming back from a knee injury, will join Rapinoe in the midfield. Also making the team was goalkeeper Hope Solo, forwards Alex Morgan and Christen Press, and defenders Becky Sauerbrunn and Julie Johnston.

The U.S. has made the final of all five women’s Olympic soccer tournaments, winning the last three. A gold in Rio would make the U.S. the first country to hold world and Olympic titles at the same time.

“The players want to make history, want to try to be the first team to go back to back,” Ellis said. “You had players on the end of their careers in the last World Cup. But this group is as hungry to kind of prove themselves and make their mark as a new team.”

The Olympics offer a different atmosphere than the World Cup as well, said Sauerbrunn, who will be competing in her second Games.

“It is a truly unique experience … with all these athletes competing in all these different disciplines,” she said. “There’s a real sense of camaraderie and being a part of something bigger than just your team.”

The U.S. will open play in the 12-team tournament on Aug. 3 against New Zealand in Belo Horizonte. It will also meet France and Colombia in group play. Both those teams advanced to the knockout round in last summer’s World Cup.

The team

GOALKEEPERS: Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars), Hope Solo (Seattle Reign FC)

DEFENDERS: Whitney Engen (Boston Breakers), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Meghan Klingenberg (Portland Thorns FC), Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit), Kelley O’Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City)

MIDFIELDERS: Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC)

FORWARDS: Crystal Dunn (Washington Spirit), Alex Morgan (Orlando Pride), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Mallory Pugh (Real Colorado)