Andy Clark/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
U.S. Soccer named its roster for this summer’s Women’s World Cup on Thursday, but in doing so Coach Jill Ellis essentially acknowledged that her best hope for retaining the title is to trust many of the same players to repeat the feat.
Despite more than three years of experiments, tinkering and tryouts, a dozen members of the roster return from the 2015 team, including eight players who started in the Americans’ victory over Japan in the final in Vancouver.
Carli Lloyd, 36, the outstanding player at the 2015 tournament but now the oldest player on the team, made her fourth World Cup roster, and six players — including the likely starters Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Becky Sauerbrunn and Kelley O’Hara — will be taking part in their third.