U.S. ladies’s nationwide crew defender Tierna Davidson suffered a torn ACL in her left knee whereas competing for NJ/NY Gotham FC in NWSL play on Friday, including a brand new wrinkle to USWNT head coach Emma Hayes’ plans to increase the participant pool and construct a brand new core group within the buildup to the 2027 Girls’s World Cup.
Davidson got here off within the forty fourth minute of Friday’s sport on the Houston Sprint with a non-contact damage in her left knee. She was in a position to stroll off the pitch with restricted assist however was in tears and acquired a hug from Gotham’s goalkeeper coach and Davidson’s former teammate Michelle Betos earlier than heading straight down the tunnel.
The damage is an enormous blow to Gotham, who’ve used a powerful protection as the inspiration of their fashion of play underneath head coach Juan Carlos Amoros. Davidson began every of Gotham’s three video games this season at middle again subsequent to Emily Sonnett, her membership and nation teammate, although Mandy Freeman might fill the function after approaching in Davidson’s place on Friday.
Davidson beforehand tore her ACL in her proper knee in 2022 throughout a coaching session together with her membership on the time, the Chicago Stars. She missed the whole lot of the 2022 NWSL season with that damage and returned for the 2023 marketing campaign however missed the USWNT’s 2023 Girls’s World Cup roster earlier than absolutely returning to the group after the conclusion of that match. She earned a beginning function alongside Naomi Girma in time for the 2024 Olympic Video games, the place they gained gold.
USWNT to discover defensive depth
Although a long-term damage isn’t preferrred, Davidson’s damage comes at a interval in time that Hayes was already going to make use of for experimentation. The top coach has deliberately used the post-Olympics interval to increase the participant pool and introduce new tactical concepts, one thing that she’s going to doubtless do for the rest of 2025.
Onlookers will get a style of Hayes’ new concepts as quickly as Saturday, when the USWNT play Brazil within the first of a two-game sequence this month. The top coach is with out each of her beginning middle backs from the Olympics, with Girma nursing a short-term damage that saved her out of this worldwide window. She does have a handful of choices obtainable to her – Sonnett is the veteran alternative of the group, although less-experienced picks like Alana Cook dinner, Tara McKeown and Emily Sams are additionally in camp.
Cook dinner was a part of the 2023 World Cup squad however might earn her first minutes for the nationwide crew since Hayes took over final 12 months, whereas the others have more moderen experiences with the USWNT. Sonnett and McKeown began two of the USWNT’s three SheBelieves Cup matches in February, whereas Sams partnered with Davidson within the different match. Moreover, Sonnett crammed in for Davidson throughout the Olympics when the latter handled a minor damage.
Girma and Davidson, who will each nonetheless be underneath 30 years outdated by the 2027 World Cup, stay the presumed starters for that match, barring health, and on the very least, this era of experimentation will permit Hayes to determine who’s subsequent in line.
Davidson joins a protracted listing of veteran USWNT gamers who will miss a substantial period of time for the reason that Olympics. Solely 10 members from Hayes’ gold medal-winning crew are in camp this month, and the top coach has not been in a position to work with full teams since they returned from Paris.
