Lindsey Horan, New Captain Of United States Women’s National Team

Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Lindsey Horan has been confirmed as the captain of the United States Women’s National Team replacing the injured Becky Sauerbruun. The 29-year-old will be the youngest captain for the team in a World Cup this century.

Horan will succeed April Heinrichs, Carla Overbeck, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Christine Rampone, Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe as a captain of the United States Women’s National Team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. At 29, Horan will be the first of those aged under 30 since Heinrichs and Overbeck, who were both 27 when they captained the sides in the 1991 and 1995 tournaments respectively.

In a statement today, U.S. Soccer named Horan and the 34-year-old Alex Morgan as joint-captains while stipulating that when both players are on the field together, Horan will wear the armband. Morgan was one of the captains at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, wearing the armband in the semi-final victory over England in the absence of the injured Megan Rapinoe. Morgan has captained the United States on 22 previous occasions compared to Horan who has worn the armband nine times.

“We have a lot of leaders on this team among the young players and the veteran players, and among those, Lindsey and Alex have vast experience in big games, and they understand what it takes to win at the highest levels,” said head coach Vlatko Andonovski.

“They are ultimate professionals and understand all the factors that go into having a united and motivated team. I know they will represent us well on and off the field at the World Cup.”

The 38-year-old Sauerbruun had been nominated team captain by head coach Vlatko Andonovski. However, after leading the side in their last match against the Republic of Ireland in April, she suffered a foot injury from which she has failed to recover, ruling herself out of contention for selection last month.

Speaking about the absence of her former Portland Thorns team-mate, Horan said “I’m so, so sad for Becky, she was a huge role model for me, someone who took me under her wing and helped me in this leadership role. I think my leadership role has changed a huge amount on the field and I’ve worked more and more (on it) off the field.”

“Going into a major tournament like this, it’s about doing my thing, who I am as a leader and not changing any bit just because we unfortunately lost Becky. I’m going to be the same Lindsey that I’ve always been but do whatever I possibly can to help this team lift the trophy at the end of the day and help the young ones that we have and a lot of the newer players that have never been here.”

Last week, Horan completed a permanent transfer from Portland Thorns to French champions Olympique Lyonnais for a fee of €250,000 plus add ons of €50,000. On loan there since Januay 2022, she has already won two French league titles and the UEFA
EFA
Women’s Champions League last season. The potential transfer fee of $339,000 makes her the most expensive United States women’s international in history ahead of Morgan ($275,000).

Asked last week what advice Sauerbruun had for her, Horan revealed “Becky always leads by example, her voice isn’t always out there, but any time she does speak it makes people listen. What she says is so important. What she does on the field and what she did for me in Portland, I was just like, I’m going to follow her lead and I want to be that type of role model for the young ones coming up and the new players here.”

“For me, coming into my role, I want to be my own type of leader. The one thing Becky did tell me when I texted her about the injury, she just said appreciate this moment. Appreciate wearing the captain’s armband if I get the chance, appreciate being able to lead this team and take in every single bit of that because it does not come around a lot and you being able to have this role, it’s the most incredible thing in the world.”