While the Utah Royals FC spent the last seven days without a competitive match due to a bye week in National Women’s Soccer League and a short FIFA international break, several members of the squad earned minutes for their respective national teams.
Over the last few days, FW Christen Press (USA), DF Becky Sauerbrunn (USA), DF Kelley O’Hara (USA) DF Rachel Corsie (SCO), MF Gunny Jonsdottir (ICL) and DF Gaby Vincent (USA U-23) all departed from Utah to join their national teams.
The trio of Americans continued their victory tour, celebrating the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup championship at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia with a 4-0 win over Portugal. Press started the match and earned two assists in the four-goal rout over Portugal, giving her eight in total for the 2019 calendar year, the most on the squad. Sauerbrunn also started the match for Head Coach Jill Ellis, making her 166th international appearance. O’Hara was unavailable for play but was in attendance for the festivities. The team will travel to Minnesota to once again face Portugal on Tuesday, Sept. 3 before returning to join URFC.
In Europe, Gaby Vincent and the U-23 United States Women’s National Team traveled to Loughborough, England to participate in the 2019 Nordic Tournament. Thus far the United States have secured victories over Norway and England and will conclude the competition on Sept. 2 against Sweden. Vincent has not yet made an appearance for the Red, White and Blue.
Meanwhile, Rachel Corsie and Scotland began competition for the qualification round for the upcoming UEFA Women’s European Championship against Cyprus. Corsie captained the squad to a 8-0 victory over Cyprus.
Finally, Jonsdottir and Iceland defeated Hungary 4-1 to secure all three points in the qualification round for the UEFA Women’s European Championship. Jonsdottir started the match in the midfield before being substituted in the second half. Iceland is looking to qualify for the tournament for the fourth-consecutive time.
Utah Royals FC will return to competition on Friday, September 6 at Rio Tinto Stadium, facing Portland Thorns FC at 7:30 p.m. MT. Tickets can be purchased by going to UtahRoyalsFC.com or by calling 844.REAL.TIX.
