U.S. women open 2021 with training camp in Florida

Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd have returned after missing most of last year as the U.S. women’s national team prepares to open training camp this weekend in Florida.

Coach Vlatko Andonovski on Wednesday announced the 27-player roster for the Orlando camp, which will be capped by a pair of exhibition matches against Colombia at the end of the month.

Alex Morgan, who said she has contracted the coronavirus, was among the players left off of the roster as the team prepares for the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Rapinoe, the FIFA 2019 Player of the Year after helping the United States win its second consecutive World Cup, has not played for the national team since the SheBelieves Cup last March. She opted out of playing for her club team, OL Reign, in the National Women’s Soccer League’s Challenge Cup and fall series.

Lloyd has also not played since the SheBelieves Cup because of injury.

Also returning to the roster is Mallory Pugh, who was also sidelined for much of last year.

“As I enter the 16th year of my career, it is still exciting to be called into the first USWNT camp of the year. I have recovered from my injury and am feeling fit, strong and sharp,” Lloyd said in a statement. “I cannot wait to get back with the team and get to work!”

Andonovski said Rapinoe and Lloyd are “refreshed’ after the layoff, and they are expected to play against Colombia.

“Both of them are a little bit ahead of what we expected for them to be for January camp, from the physical standpoint,” he said. “The only thing they’re missing is a team training, so it’s good that we have a good eight or nine trainings before we go into the match, and both of them are expected to get minutes. ”