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There is no such thing as an indispensable player. For the U.S. women’s soccer team, though, Becky Sauerbrunn came pretty darn close.
The two-time defending World Cup champions aren’t just losing an anchor on their back line, a player who has made 216 appearances for the USWNT and started all but 11 of the last 145 games she’s played. They are losing their leader, the player almost every one of her teammates will name when asked the one person they don’t want to disappoint.
Sauerbrunn’s absence from the World Cup – the USWNT captain confirmed Friday night that she’ll miss the tournament because of a foot injury – would be felt regardless. But the void will be particularly big with this team, which is in the midst of a transition to a new generation.
Of the 23 players on the roster that will be announced next week, more than half will be playing in their first major international tournament.
“My role is basically to get everyone on the same page as quickly as possible,” Sauerbrunn said in April, when asked how she ensures younger players are ready to carry on the legacy of a team that has won four World Cup titles and been No. 1 for almost all of the last 15 years.
“What’s special about this team is that we have a lot of ceiling raisers, those really special players that, given one chance, they can dribble a team and score a goal,” Sauerbrunn said. “My goal is to be a floor-raiser, and to make sure the distance between the top and the bottom is as close as possible.”
Unexpected injuries are part of sports, and several contenders have lost key players ahead of this World Cup. England is missing its captain, Leah Williamson, along with Fran Kirby and Beth Mead, the player of the tournament at last year’s Euros. Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Delphine Cascarino have been ruled out for France.
The USWNT was already going to be without Mallory Swanson, who led the team with seven goals in five games this year before tearing her patellar tendon in an April friendly.
But the Americans are deep enough they at least have options to fill in for Swanson. Sophia Smith. Trinity Rodman. Lynn Williams. Alyssa Thompson.
There isn’t anyone who can do everything Sauerbrunn does.
At 38, Sauerbrunn is still one of the best center backs in the world, a second-team NWSL Best XI last season. She’s the equivalent of a security blanket, shutting down threatening runs and clearing out dangerous balls.
She’s also been a staunch advocate for equality, in sports and in society.
Sauerbrunn was one of the lead plaintiffs in the gender discrimination lawsuit the USWNT filed against U.S. Soccer three months before the 2019 World Cup. She was the leader in negotiations with U.S. Soccer over both the lawsuit settlement and, as the president of the USWNT’s Players Association, the landmark collective bargaining agreement that guaranteed the U.S. women equal pay.
Sauerbrunn is an advocate for the Black Women’s Player Collective and an Athlete Ally ambassador, and in February she wrote an op-ed opposing proposed legislation in her home state of Missouri that would bar transgender girls and women from playing sports.
“Becky is an amazing person,” USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski, who also coached Sauerbrunn when she played for FC Kansas City, said in April. “From Day One, we could see the type of person she is, the type of leader she is and, on top of that, an amazing player. It’s been an extremely great experience for me personally. I’m honored to be able to work with her.”
Andonovski and the USWNT will now have to lean even more heavily on veterans like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Lindsey Horan. And this team has a long history of players stepping up to fill holes, on and off the field, without missing a beat.
“It’s been an honor to work and play alongside this incredible group of athletes,” Sauerbrunn wrote in a post she shared on Twitter and Instagram. “They have my unwavering support. And, more importantly, they have my unyielding belief. This program has always been about the collective and I have no doubt that the 23 players on the final roster have everything they need — in their feet, their heads and their hearts — to bring our fifth trophy home.”
But losing Sauerbrunn will challenge the U.S. women in a way they haven’t been since Abby Wambach broke her leg in the send-off game before the 2008 Olympics. The Americans went on to win the title in Beijing, and there’d be no better tribute to Sauerbrunn than for the USWNT to do the same at this World Cup.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.
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