Skip to main content For its new captain, the USWNT turned to the player 'who has always been there': Becky Sauerbrunn Steven Goff, The Washington Post Feb. 24, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail ORLANDO, Fla. - Last month, a few days before the U.S. women's national soccer team played its first match of the year, Coach Vlatko Andonovski summoned defender Becky Sauerbrunn for a meeting. He needed a captain, not just for two upcoming friendlies against Colombia but for the Olympics this summer and perhaps beyond. During Andonovski's first 15 months in charge, several players, including Sauerbrunn, had filled the role, but the captain's armband needed a full-time home.