When the U.S. women’s national team takes the field for its 2023 World Cup opener against Vietnam, it will be doing so without arguably the team’s best attacking player.
Mallory Swanson — formerly Mallory Pugh before her marriage with Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson — is among several key USWNT players to miss the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand due to injury.
Swanson suffered a torn patellar tendon in an April friendly against Ireland, effectively shutting down the USWNT’s most in-form player for a year. In her past 21 matches with the USWNT, Swanson had racked up 21 goal contributions (14 goals, 7 assists) and was coming off four goals in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup.
Mal Swanson is inevitable these days. SHEESH. pic.twitter.com/wuwujpL7mp
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 23, 2023
Despite the estimated 12-month recovery time, Swanson had hoped to make a stunning recovery in time for the World Cup. She said via The Sporting News:
“Honestly, there was a good time where I was like ‘I’m going to make it in time.
“Realistically, anyone can go on Google and look up the recovery time for my injury, and it didn’t really correlate [with my expectations], but I was like ‘I’m gonna do it.'”
But the seriousness of the injury was just too much to overcome in such a short timeframe.
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