Preliminary roster for SheBelieves Cup set

United States women’s national team coach Jill Ellis on Wednesday named 26 players to the preliminary roster for the 2018 SheBelieves Cup.

In the days leading up to the national team’s opening match at Mapfre Stadium on March 1 against Germany, that number will be trimmed to 23.

The roster features a handful of women’s national team regulars — Kelley O’Hara, Morgan Brian, Julie Ertz, Carli Lloyd, Crystal Dunn, Alex Morgan, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe all have made more than 50 appearances — but there is a chance for a few others to see increased minutes at the national-team level. Defender Becky Sauerbrunn (foot), midfielder Samantha Mewis (knee) and forward Tobin Heath (ankle) will not be ready England vs. France, U.S. vs. Germany

U.S. vs. France, Germany vs. England

U.S. vs. England, France vs. Germany for the round-robin tournament.

“At this point, it’s about making sure that our players start to have a solid understanding of the relationships on the field in their roles,” Ellis said. “When you have players that are potential starters that are not here, you continue to build in depth and flexibility.

“Becky’s not here, and an opportunity has opened up for Tierna (Davidson) and she’s playing and she did well, so you’ve always got to be, as a coach, making decisions on what do you think is going to enhance the performance, and that’s personnel decisions as well as tactics.”

Ellis said Heath is “progressing” following her early January ankle surgery, Sauerbrunn has been running on a zero-gravity treadmill and does not have an exact return timeline, and Mewis’ knee is healing.

“They’re all doing really well,” Ellis said.

The U.S. national team roster includes three goalkeepers — Jane Campbell, Ashlyn Harris and Alyssa Naeher — eight defenders — Abby Dahlkemper, Davidson, Sofia Huerta, O’Hara, Casey Short, Taylor Smith and Emily Sonnett — seven midfielders — Brian, Ertz, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Lloyd, Allie Long and Andi Sullivan — and eight forwards — Dunn, Ashley Hatch, Savannah McCaskill, Morgan, Press, Mallory Pugh, Rapinoe and Lynn Williams.

Dunn and Brian will stay in Europe with their club teams while the national team trains in Orlando, Florida, but will be in Columbus if named to the 23-player roster, according to a U.S. Soccer release.

The set of three SheBelieves Cup doubleheaders begins with England-France and USA-Germany on March 1 in Columbus and continues with USA-France and Germany-England on March 4 in Harrison, New Jersey, before wrapping up with France-Germany and USA-England on March 7 in Orlando.

“We’re really excited to get into this tournament,” Ellis said. “It’s a big year, and as I said to the players, every moment we have together, every match we have is preparing us for October in terms of (2019 World Cup) qualifying.”