Daily News | Julie Ertz is grateful for a chance to return to the USWNT, even if the timing is awkward
No one knows better than Julie Ertz how long it’s been since she last played an official soccer game: over 600 days, dating back to the bronze medal game of the 2021 Olympics.
There’s no doubt about that. U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski clearly wanted Ertz to return to boost the team’s defensive midfield chops, and he visited her post-childbirth training sessions to set the stage.Julie Ertz makes stunning return to USWNT in last games before World Cup roster is set “I don’t want to go back and be the player that I was, because I want to be better,” she said. “I know that seems weird being out long. ... I don’t feel like I’ve been gone as long as I have, but I feel good. I love the sport differently than I did then. And I thought I loved it then, but taking a step away and having a new perspective has given me kind of, like, a new drive.”
Ertz clearly took her time in all of this. Not only was there pregnancy and childbirth, but, before then, there were injuries that cut her 2021 campaign short. She made it clear Monday that she didn’t want to resume playing until she was fully ready,“Coming back from pregnancy changes things — obviously, your body,” she said. “So I just wanted to make sure when I was coming back that I felt like I was strong enough to be able to feel like I could be myself.
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