The day before his last look at the U.S. women’s national soccer team ahead of Olympic roster selections, Coach Vlatko Andonovski was asked about a late proposal to expand squad limits in Tokyo.
As it stands, in the next week or so, Andonovski will narrow the sport’s deepest player pool to 18, which, because of International Olympic Committee rules for both men’s and women’s soccer, is five fewer than for a World Cup.
He will disappoint some players who, almost anywhere else, would be the biggest talent on the national team.
The roster outlook gained clarity through Andonovski’s personnel decisions in three friendlies over the past week, culminating with a 2-0 victory against Nigeria on Wednesday in Austin.