Credit: Instagram
USWNT star Christen Press will miss the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 and will be undergoing a fourth surgery on her injured right knee. The 34-year-old forward confirmed the news on her Instagram account on Monday, July 17. Press, who has 155 caps and 64 goals for the USWNT, was part of the World Cup-winning squads in 2015 and 2019.
The Angel City FC forward had hoped to make a comeback for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which kicks off on July 20, 2023, but her fourth surgery has ruled her out.
Press said in her statement that each previous time she had to undergo surgery, she had informed her fans after her recovery and informed them everything positive. This time she wants to do it differently and start from 'the bottom up'. In her statement, she mentioned that she initially thought she could be there at the World Cup even after her tear and stayed ‘quietly hopeful’.
The USWNT forward said, "This month commences the World Cup. The USWNT's first game will be exactly 13 months from my ACL repair to the day. Until the roster was announced, there wasn't a day that passed over the last year that I didn't believe I could be there. Even after three surgeries."
She continued, “Back in February, when my surgeon and physical therapist told me directly, as medical advice, to let go of that dream, I cried. I nodded. And I thought I processed that loss. But, I also decided not to speak that truth into existence. I felt that if I shared that with all of you, I'd be manifesting it into reality. So instead, I stayed quietly hopeful. You never know what could happen, I'd say. Crazier things have occurred, I told friends.”
Press's absence is a huge blow for the USWNT, which is aiming to win its third consecutive World Cup title next year. The team has already lost several key players to injury, such as Becky Sauerbrunn, Catarina Macario, Mallory Swanson, and Sam Mewis. The USWNT is drawn in Group E with Netherlands, Portugal, and Vietnam and will play its first match against Vietnam on July 22 at Eden Park in Auckland.
