Rapinoe, Lavelle to be eased into action at Women's World Cup

United States women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski has revealed that two of his stars, Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle, will ease back into action at the Women’s World Cup. Both have missed time on the pitch in recent weeks due to various injuries. However, the manager claimed that Julie Ertz is 100% fit and ready for the 2023 Women’s World Cup after missing time.

“Rose actually has been really good. She’s trained with the team now for a good three weeks, and off-and-on she trained with us before that,” Andonovski stated on Friday. “She’s ready to play and we’re not going to force a lot of minutes from the beginning. We’ll ease everything up as we move on.”

“From minutes management, Julie is 100% where Megan is in the same boat like Rose. Her minutes are probably going to grow as the tournament goes by. They’re ready to play. From a medical standpoint, everyone’s available.”

Both stars suffered lower body injuries in recent months

Rapinoe has been dealing with a nagging calf issue for over a month now. The American star initially suffered a setback while playing for OL Reign in early June. Rapinoe recently declared that this will be her final Women’s World Cup tournament with the team. She has previously helped the USWNT win two World Cup titles, as well as the 2012 Olympic gold medal.

Lavelle last featured for the USWNT back in April, when she injured her knee during a friendly with Ireland. Despite Andonovski downplaying the injury, she has not played a game since.

Rapinoe, Lavelle and USWNT start World Cup defense on Friday

The Stars and Stripes will kick off their Women’s World Cup Friday at 9 p.m. ET against Vietnam. The Americans are currently the favorites to win the competition and have collected the most Women’s World Cup trophies in the history of the tournament. Along with Vietnam, they will also face the Netherlands and Portugal in Group E of the competition.

PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire