Julie Ertz is back. Fans of the U.S. women’s national team have been hoping to hear those words for more than a year, but she is — as of two substitute appearances for the team — only back for the USWNT in the most factual and implication-free sense of those words.
Angel City FC has signed Ertz to a one-year contract, which gives her the opportunity to prove she deserves a spot on the World Cup squad. She’s appeared three times since signing, and has the chance to suit up for at least six more games via the NWSL regular season and NWSL Challenge Cup before USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski is expected to announce his World Cup roster, roughly a month before the tournament starts in late July.
Ertz had barely recovered from an MCL injury in time for the Olympics in 2021, and then sat out the rest of the NWSL season after playing every game in that tournament in Tokyo for the USWNT. She sat out the 2022 season due to pregnancy, having her first child in August, and then took her time deciding whether she wanted to return to the league, opting not to sign for any club ahead of preseason.
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In April’s final international break before Andonovski will select his World Cup roster, Ertz took the field against the Republic of Ireland — it had been 611 days since she last played for the USWNT. She looked a tiny bit off the pace, but clearly fit enough to be playing professional soccer. It remains to be seen whether she will ever be all-caps, shouted from the rooftops BACK, as in, close to the best version of herself: the best ball-winning midfielder on the planet.
Ertz’s brief USWNT return cameo in April made it easy to dream about her getting back to her peak quickly. Ireland already looked defeated by the time she came on and were defending deep to keep things respectable, giving Ertz plenty of favorable opportunities to play long passes and pick up loose balls. The second game, in which Ertz played twice as many minutes, was a bit more of a reality check. A much more ambitious and confident Ireland threatened regularly on the counter, exposing Ertz’s expected lack of match sharpness.
This has led into an early spell with Angel City that’s met expectations in both positive and negative ways. Her defensive presence has allowed club midfield teammates Dani Weatherholt and Savannah McCaskill to do more pressing and take more risks in attack, without worrying about what might happen if the ball gets behind them.
But Angel City has been inconsistent, and failed to win (two losses, one draw) in Ertz’s appearances thus far. After five total appearances for club and country since her return, we’re still pretty far from a conclusion on how far away Ertz is from her best, and whether it’s feasible for her to get close to her best by the World Cup.
Ertz won 50% of her duels (12/24) and had seven interceptions across 80 minutes in her two USWNT games, and had four interceptions in her Angel City debut, according to WyScout. These are pretty standard defensive midfielder numbers. They’re nothing to be concerned about, but they are way off peak for Ertz, who doubles up those duels-won and interceptions numbers in her most prolific ball-winning performances.
She was much more active in her two most recent club appearances, winning 10 interceptions apiece against the Portland Thorns on April 29 and the Washington Spirit on May 13, but only won 40% of her duels in those games (17/42). In the 2019 NWSL season, Ertz averaged 7.27 interceptions per 90 minutes and won 56.4% of her duels.
