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October 4, 2026
The roster

The United States will face Spain without Naomi Girma or Emily Sonnett

U.S. Soccer added Utah Royals defender Kate Del Fava to the roster on Sunday for the two matches against Spain. Girma has not been on the field in any of Chelsea's seven matches since September 2. Emily Sonnett is hurt too, and one or both of them started at center back in seven of the United States' last eight matches.

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Maya ArguelloOct 4, 20263 min read
Every call on this site goes on a public ledger and gets graded. The misses stay up.
Naomi Girma walks across the field in the United States navy pinstripe shirt with long navy sleeves underneath, lips parted, a crowd blurred in the stand behind her, at the SheBelieves Cup match against Colombia in March 2026.

Kate Del Fava was already due in Atlanta on Monday. She was going as an overage player with the United States under-23s, who are in camp at the national training center this week at the same time as the senior team. On Sunday, Emma Hayes called her up to the senior roster for the two matches against Spain, to replace the injured Naomi Girma. "She will now just switch hotels," U.S. Soccer's release said.

Del Fava is 28 and has never played for the United States. Her first call-up at any level was the under-23 trip to Brazil in June, also as an overage player. She plays in the middle of the Utah Royals defense, and the federation says she has played every minute of every game since the club rejoined the NWSL in 2024. She has two goals this season, both headers, and she is the first Illinois State player to be called into the senior team. She is the fifth uncapped player on a roster of 26.

The player she replaces#

Hayes named Girma on Tuesday, for the first time since April. By Thursday she was off the roster with a muscle injury, ESPN's Jeff Kassouf reported, with a replacement to be named later. Sunday's release calls her injured and gives no detail.

Her club coach had said a little more on Wednesday. "Naomi got a knock in training. So I think she will be unavailable for maybe a few weeks," Sonia Bompastor said, in remarks ESPN published.

Girma started both legs of Chelsea's Champions League qualifier against Real Sociedad, the second of them on September 2. Chelsea have since played five Women's Super League matches and two in the Champions League league phase, and she has not been on the field in any of the seven. She was an unused substitute in four and out of the squad for three, the latest of them Sunday's 3-0 win at West Ham. I said on September 19 that she would play for Chelsea by October 4, and I was wrong.

She has 54 caps, and her last match for the United States was against Japan on April 17. After Spain, the next United States matches are at the Concacaf W Championship in November, where World Cup qualification is decided.

What is left at center back#

Emily Sonnett is missing as well. She suffered a major knee injury after the June matches in Brazil, U.S. Soccer said last week. In the last eight United States matches, going back to March 1, Sonnett started five at center back and Girma started four. One or both of them started in seven of the eight.

The exception was Argentina on March 1, when Kennedy Wesley and Tara Rudd started together. Both are on this roster. Across the eight matches Wesley started three at center back, Tierna Davidson two and Rudd one. Davidson has 70 caps, Rudd 12 and Wesley seven.

The roster now lists nine defenders, up from eight on Tuesday. Girma came off, Del Fava went on, and Evelyn Shores, an uncapped Angel City player listed with the midfielders on Tuesday, is listed with the defenders now. Seven of the nine have 14 caps or fewer. The other two are Davidson and Emily Fox, who has 78.

Spain are ranked first in the world. They play the United States at Audi Field in Washington on October 10 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern, and at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 13 at 7 p.m.

Sources: U.S. Soccer release on Kate Del Fava's call-up, October 4, 2026; U.S. Soccer roster release, September 29, 2026; U.S. Soccer, "Emma Hayes on October Roster," September 30, 2026; Jeff Kassouf, ESPN, "Naomi Girma off USWNT squad due to muscle injury," October 1, 2026; ESPN match lineups for Chelsea, August 26 to October 4, 2026, and for the United States, March to June 2026; ESPN player page for Kate Del Fava.

Filed under USWNT

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Spain beat the United States 2-0 before a sellout crowd of 19,220 at Audi Field on October 10. Patri Guijarro scored in the 3rd minute and Eva Navarro in the 14th. The United States had 13 shots, 10 of them on target, against Spain's six and three, and Adriana Nanclares saved Lily Yohannes's 70th-minute penalty. U.S. Soccer said it was the first start together for the back four of Emily Fox, Tierna Davidson, Kennedy Wesley and Avery Patterson. Gisele Thompson replaced Patterson at halftime. Mallory Swanson and Ashley Sanchez came on in the 66th minute. None of the five uncapped players on the roster played: Trinity Byars, Jordan Silkowitz and Evelyn Shores did not dress, and Pietra Tordin and Kate Del Fava were unused substitutes. The teams meet again at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 13, the last U.S. match before the Concacaf W Championship.

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The Spanish federation said on October 6 that goalkeeper Cata Coll had left Spain's squad for the matches against the United States and would return to Barcelona, replaced by Athletic Club's Eunate Astralaga; the federation gave no reason, and the news agency EFE reported quadriceps discomfort. Coll started seven of Spain's ten matches under Sonia Bermúdez, including all six against England, Germany and Sweden. Spain are also without Vicky López, Mariona Caldentey and Aitana Bonmatí. The United States are without Naomi Girma, Emily Sonnett and Sam Coffey. Six players started at center back for the United States in its last eight matches: Sonnett, Girma, Kennedy Wesley, Tierna Davidson, Tara Rudd and Emily Sams. Girma and Sonnett are injured, Wesley, Davidson and Rudd are in camp, and Sams, who has started all 27 of Angel City's NWSL matches, is not on the roster. The teams meet at Audi Field on October 10 and Subaru Park on October 13.

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On the record

Called Shots →
MissedSep 16, 2026

The San Francisco 49ers do NOT add a wide receiver from outside the organisation to either their active roster or their practice squad between 2:49 p.m. Pacific on September 16, 2026 and kickoff of their Week 3 game, 1:05 p.m. Pacific on Sunday, September 27, 2026. Any outside route scores the take WRONG: a free-agent signing, a waiver claim or a trade. Movement among men already under contract to San Francisco does not count, so promoting Wesley Grimes or Will Pauling from the practice squad, activating Christian Kirk from Reserve/Injured, or a standard game-day elevation all leave the take CORRECT. Position is taken from the club's own roster page: a man the club lists at WR is a receiver and a man it lists anywhere else is not.

AGAINST, drafted first and real. Ricky Pearsall has been on injured reserve since August 1 and De'Zhaun Stribling is now out close to ten weeks after ankle surgery, so two of the club's receivers are gone at once and one of them for the season. The group behind Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel Sr. and Demarcus Robinson is Jacob Cowing, who played five of 65 offensive snaps in Melbourne, Jordan Watkins, who was on the Not Active list for that game, and KhaDarel Hodge, who played one offensive snap and was promoted from the practice squad on September 16. Practice squads also churn at the bottom every week of the season, and San Francisco has made a transaction on six separate dates since September 1. FOR. Kyle Shanahan said before Wednesday's practice that he believes the club has as much depth at receiver as any team in the league and does not need to do anything in the interim, which is a head coach answering the exact question this row asks, on the record, on the first day of the window. The practice squad stood at its 17-man maximum when its four tables were counted by name at 2:49 p.m. Pacific on September 16, so an outside receiver cannot be signed without releasing somebody already in the building. The club has also just spent both of its available moves on tight end rather than receiver, promoting Brayden Willis on September 15 and signing Jack Stoll on September 16 off a workout it ran the day before, which is where the room actually went to three. Collision check run against the live 49ers ledger: the open rows ask about a defensive lineman reaching the 53 by September 19, about whether Stribling reaches Reserve/Injured by Week 2 kickoff, about season-long receiving and rushing totals, and about contract-site cap figures. No open row asks whether the club adds a receiver from outside.

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