US Women's National Team to have January training camp in Austin

The U.S. Women's National Team just can't get enough of Austin—seven months after they christened Austin FC's Q2 Stadium pitch with its first-ever match, the team will be back in town for their January training camp from January 19-28.

Taking place at St. David's Performance Center—the practice field of Austin FC—the camp will include 26 players and will be the team's first action of 2022.

Among the star-studded roster will be 19-year-old Trinity Rodman, the 2021 NWSL Rookie of the Year and 2021 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year who will have her first national team call up with this camp. Other call-ups include seven No. 1 draft picks, including Naomi Girma, Emily Fox, Sophia Smith, Tierna Davidson, Andi Sullivan, Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett.

Eleven players who helped bring back a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympics will make their way to Austin. But noticeably gone from the lineup are Christen Press, who scored Q2's first goal, Carli Lloyd, who retired in the fall after scoring 134 goals with the USWNT, and Megan Rapinoe, the unspoken spokesperson of the team who has earned two FIFA World Cup golds and two Olympic medals.

Just before the Q2 match, Rapinoe said the "breakfast tacos alone are reason to be excited," and after a night in Austin, Rapinoe and the team had nothing but praise for the "soccer city."

USWNT Head Coach Vlatko Adnovoski said the camp will give the team a chance to transition from their holiday break and focus on the year ahead.

“Without any matches that we need to taper for, we can get in some more intense trainings and full-field scrimmages, which is great as we need to give this group as many chances as possible to play together in a national team environment,” Andonovski said. “We understand that some of the players are coming off a break, so we’ll keep that in mind as we hit the ground running in 2022 for what will be a very important year for these players and our team.”

While the team won't have another sold-out match at Q2 this time around, they'll be gearing up for their first matches of the year at the 2022 SheBelieves Cup this February, with one match against Iceland taking place in Texas at Frisco's Toyota Stadium on Feb. 23.