Swanson Believes Tour
2/19/23
J.J. Pavlick
Photo Credit: USWNT
Mallory Swanson had herself a tournament for the U.S. Womens National Team, she scored all but 1 of the goals for the team and had every game-winning goal. Her last name may have changed but Mallory Pugh Swanson is still a dominant player both at the club level and internationally. She will be a force to reckon with at this year's world cup and will always have the Chicago Red Stars being a threat every week in club play. With forwards Alex Morgan and Sophia Smith, more than likely going the U.S. will be a tough team to knock off this year.
The midfield was a steady force for teams to deal with and Crystal Dunn keeps improving on her defensive game playing on the backline for Vlatko. You can disagree with the man all you want but the team he's been fielding as of late has been brutal on opponents and giving up few chances on goal. The manager will have some tough decisions to make when it comes to the final roster for the World Cup. Some fan favorites will be left off and maybe even some legends from past successful runs. Smith, Swanson, and Morgan have been unstoppable when on the pitch together and even when separated. which will probably leave Gotham FC's striker Midge Purce at home this world cup run. The mid-field is also stacked in this run, and we may see some surprising names left off the roster. The defense is still an open campaign for the team and Vlatko will be studying a ton of film leading up to the roster announcement.
As for the netminders we have no shortage of greatness, and we will again see someone that's a favorite to many left off. Number one is probably a lock while that second and or third spot is highly contested.
No one is shocked the US won the She Believes Cup, the only part that might be shocking is how it was dominated by Swanson. She tallied 4 goals in the cup win and Swanson has now scored in six consecutive USWNT games, the longest scoring streak of her career, and tied for the fourth-longest streak in USWNT history. The only other players in USWNT history to have scoring streaks of six games or longer are Abby Wambach, Carin Jennings Gabarra, Carli Lloyd, Christen Press, and Michelle Akers, who had three such streaks in her illustrious career. She was the first player to ever score in all 3 games of the cup and her 4 goals were the most by any single player in the history of the cup. The goal was Swanson’s eighth all-time at the She Believes Cup, breaking a tie with Megan Rapinoe to become the all-time scoring leader in competition history. As if all of that wasn't enough, she was named the Visa She Believes Cup MVP.
Photo Credit: USWNT
