Preseason is typically a time for teams to integrate new players and knock off any rust left over from the offseason.
Unfortunately for the Orlando Pride, they won’t be afforded as much time to follow through on traditional methods, as they will be without nine national-team players over the course of the next two months.
This is a situation third-year Pride head coach Tom Sermanni is familiar with, as he’s encountered a similar predicament the past two seasons.
In 2018, Orlando will lose players to three tournaments: the 2018 SheBelieves Cup, the 2018 Algarve Cup and the 2018 Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup.
Starting with the Algarve Cup, four Pride players will compete in the tournament that will last from Wednesday to March 7. Pride rookie Nádia Gomes joins the hosting Portuguese women’s national team for her first senior-team call-up. She was selected 23rd-overall by the Pride in this year’s draft.
The Matildas and the Canadian women’s national team will also compete in Portugal, as Australians Alanna Kennedy and Emily van Egmond and Canadian Shelina Zadorsky have also been called up to their respective squads.
Kennedy and van Egmond will also miss the first month of the season for the Women’s Asian Cup. The top five teams of that tournament secure bids to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Americans Alex Morgan and Ashlyn Harris are already with the United States women’s national team in preparation for the SheBelieves Cup. That tournament will last from Thursday to March 7. Orlando City Stadium hosts No. 2 Germany and No. 6 France at 4 p.m. and then No. 1 America and No. 3 England at 7 p.m.
Marta Vieira da Silva and Monica Hickmann Alves will also travel to their native Brazil and train with the Brazilian women’s national team and Poliana Barbosa Medeiros for two weeks.
All players, except for Kennedy and van Egmond, are expected to return for the Pride’s opener against Utah Royals FC on March 24 at 7:30 p.m.
For more on the Pride, as they prepare for their first preseason match, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
