USWNT roster: Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz’s last matches with USA will

The United States women’s national team will face South Africa in a two-game series in September and interim head coach Twila Kilgore has named her 27-player roster ahead of the matches in Chicago and Cincinnati. The roster features Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe, who are being celebrated as they retire, and new additions Mia Fishel and Jaedyn Shaw expand the player pool. 

The pair of friendlies are the first games for the team since their round of 16 exit in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer. The roster is the first for Kilgore since being named interim head coach after U.S. Soccer and former manager Vlatko Andonovski parted ways. 

These matches are the first for Kilgore in a leading position at the senior national team level. She previously coached U.S. youth women’s national teams and was an assistant with Houston Dash in the NWSL after several years as head coach at the collegiate level. She’s the first American-born woman to earn U.S. Soccer’s Pro Coaching License. 

“The Olympics may seem like they are far away, but the amount of time that the players get with the national team between now and Paris is not a lot, so we need to start that journey…