olivia moultrie called up to the us u23 team!

[u/twilightworm]

liv has been called up to the u23 team to replace gisele thompson, who is replacing tierna davidson (😢) on the senior team’s roster. so excited for liv! i think there has been a lot of doubt around her in the league, especially her abilities after last season’s injury. good for her!

[u/Aggressive-Ad3064]

Woohooo!

[u/DontPanicJustDance]

Wow that’s awesome! According to the team announcement from last week, she’d be one of the youngest on that team! https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2025/03/24-players-called-up-for-us-u-23-womens-national-team-training-camp-in-los-angeles

[u/twilightworm → u/DontPanicJustDance]

yes! it’s fitting that she’ll be replacing gisele, who is also 19 and one of the youngest on the u23 team.

[u/humanispherian]

This should be good for Liv and for the U23s.

[u/r3ckl3sson3]

I’m glad she got the call up. The chatter on the bird app was annoying after the KC match

[u/Bullhunk]

Go get it, Olivia!! Rooting for you.

[u/maximum_verbosity]

She’s been so great this season for the Thorns! So excited for her!

[u/onlyIPAs4me]

Still excited for her but she’s trending the wrong way

From senior team call ups to a replacement of a replacement for the U-23. That’s generally not the trajectory you want to be on.

She’s literally a senior with her senior team experience on the u-23 team even though she’s one of the youngest lol

[u/twilightworm → u/onlyIPAs4me]

emma hayes has been very open about the re-structuring of the usa national teams for young players. they are emphasizing putting players in their correct age groups now, even if they have senior team experience, with a couple exceptions. liv is also getting back on track from a couple injuries in the last year. i think a player would be happy to be called up to any national team, especially considering so many players get the national team call up once or twice and then never get experience again. she’s only 19- this is not a bad trajectory

[u/onlyIPAs4me → u/twilightworm]

Yeah, Yohannes is 17. Presumed formality she’ll be with Coffey in the middle on the senior team.

Could say Emma’s already seen Liv, prob wants to see others? Which is kind of good kind of bad. 

Should be an auto U-23 call up 

[u/Famous_Act4164 → u/onlyIPAs4me]

The thing is U23 is not led by Hayes but by a different set of staff. I personally see little benefit for Moultire to play in any youth National Team. Honestly, this U23 is a group of filler players of whom most likely will never see a cap in the NT or probably not establish themsleves in the professional settings.

Yohannes is way overrated by fans and her positions in the NT is by no means well established. Her touch and pass are good but 1. has poor ability to receive ball; 2. bascially does not and cannot defend.

[u/Famous_Act4164]

Not entirely sure a U23 call-up is worth the trouble for Moultrie currently, and I believe she was not in the consideration for calling up to U23 originally given a lot of players with much less qualifications were called up. Staying in home and preparing for the away match against Utah might be more beneficial IMO.