SheBelieves Cup, Rosters:
USA | England | France | Germany
England. The SheBelieves Cup will be the first competition for the Lionesses since Phil Neville, the former England star, was named national team coach in the wake of
the firing of former coach Mark Sampson.
Prominent women's soccer coaches wouldn't touch the position, leading to the FA's decision to give the job to Neville, who has been working
as a pundit since retiring as a player. Neville's hiring has brought unprecedented media coverage to the women's national team.
"I see this as a long-term project," he says. "I don't
think I should be judged solely on this tournament. There are probably people out there that want me to lose all three games, and say 'I told you so'. But I have got a four-year contract."
France. After sweeping the 2017 SheBelieves Cup, the Bleues entered Euro 2017 as one of the favorites. But they crashed out, losing to
England, 1-0, in the quarterfinals after struggling in group play.
The poor performance cost Olivier Echouafni -- another male coach with no experience in the women's game -- his
job, and he was replaced by Corinne Diacre.
Diacre, who earned 121 caps for France, came in with high expectations after serving as head coach of Clermont Foot in the French
(men's) second division for three years. She says she had been offered the job Echouafni took in 2016 but wasn't ready to leave Clermont.
Since Diacre took over last fall, the order of
the day has been experimentation. That's only natural as France is already qualified for the 2019 Women's World Cup as the host. Diacre gave the captain's armband to Amandine Henry in place of
Wendie Renard (who is injured and will miss the SheBelieves Cup) and rotated new players into the team.
France won its first four games but then was blown out by Germany, 4-0, in
Bielefeld and played to ties at home against Sweden and Italy.
Germany. Like France, Germany exited Euro 2017 in the
quarterfinals. The 2-1 loss to Denmark ended a streak of six straight European titles for the Germans.
That setback was followed by an even bigger shocker: a 3-2 loss to Iceland in
Wiesbaden in Women's World Cup qualifying. With only one team from each European group automatically through to the Women's World Cup finals -- the four best group runners-up will play off for the two
remaining spots -- Germany is not assured of going to France next summer.
Steffi Jones is 11-3-3 since taking over for the retired Silvia Neid following the 2016 Olympics,
where Germany won its first gold medal. Just six starters from that gold-medal team are in Columbus for Germany's opener against the USA.