Jill Ellis calls in 29 players for first USWNT camp of 2017

Jill Ellis has called 29 players into the first US women’s national team camp of 2017. The camp runs from January 13-23.

By position:

GOALKEEPERS (4): Jane Campbell (Stanford), Adrianna Franch (Portland Thorns FC), Ashlyn Harris (Orlando Pride), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

DEFENDERS (7): Jaelene Hinkle (Western New York Flash), Julie Johnston (Chicago Red Stars), Ali Krieger (Orlando Pride), Kelley O'Hara (Sky Blue FC), Becky Sauerbrunn (FC Kansas City), Casey Short (Chicago Red Stars), Emily Sonnett (Portland Thorns FC)

MIDFIELDERS (11): Morgan Brian (Houston Dash), Kristen Edmonds (Orlando Pride), Christina Gibbons (Duke), Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Portland Thorns FC), Rose Lavelle (Wisconsin), Carli Lloyd (Houston Dash), Allie Long (Portland Thorns FC), Samantha Mewis (Western New York Flash), Megan Rapinoe (Seattle Reign FC), Taylor Smith (Western New York Flash)

FORWARDS (7): Crystal Dunn (Chelsea Ladies FC, ENG), Jessica McDonald (Western New York Flash), Alex Morgan (Olympique Lyonnais, FRA), Kealia Ohai (Houston Dash), Christen Press (Chicago Red Stars), Amy Rodriguez (FC Kansas City), Lynn Williams (Western New York Flash)

Mallory Pugh and Meghan Klingenberg were both unavailable due to lingering injuries. Alex Morgan will only be available during FIFA dates, January 16-24, as per team press release.

Two players on the list, Taylor Smith and Christina Gibbons, have never been called up to camp before. Smith is coming off her rookie year in NWSL and Gibbons will be entering the 2017 NWSL college draft on January 12. Campbell and Lavelle will also be part of the draft.

Of the 29, six of the players are uncapped: Jane Campbell, Adrianna Franch, Kristen Edmonds, Christina Gibbons, Rose Lavelle and Taylor Smith.

Also of note is the return of Amy Rodriguez, who sat out 2016 for the birth of her second child. Rodriguez is guaranteed a call-up after taking leave to have a child, but she was already seeing her playing time cut down before she announced her pregnancy.

Two NWSL teams, the Boston Breakers and the Washington Spirit, have no players represented in this camp. Crystal Dunn would have filled that role for the Spirit, but recently announced she will play for Chelsea in 2017. For the Breakers, their only US national team player would have been Whitney Engen, but Engen announced in October that she had been released from the team.

The WNT is also still negotiating with US Soccer over their new collective bargaining agreement after the old one expired at the end of 2016. In this interim period, the terms of the old CBA prevail. The team has not given the 60-day notice necessary to go on strike, making this camp look like the prelude to narrowing down the roster for SheBelieves. The SheBelieves tournament hasn’t been confirmed yet, but preliminary info would place it at the beginning of March.