Once the U.S. Women’s National Team finishes the final match of their Fan Celebration Tour, they have played 32 matches this calendar year. With seasons like that, you can see why Christie Rampone has 274 career caps, Abby Wambach has 196, and Shannon Boxx and Heather O’Reilly have 178 and 177 appearances respectively.
To put that in perspective, the all-time international caps leader on the men’s side is Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan. The midfielder’s “only” made 184 appearances.
Amid those numbers it’s no surprise that Amy Rodriguez, a part of the senior national team since she was 18 years old, reached the century mark on Saturday, captaining the team during their 2-0 victory over China. At 25, she joins Rampone, Wambech, Boxx, O’Reilly, Carli Lloyd, Heather Mitts and Hope Solo as USWNT centenarians.
For most of the Pia Sundhage years, she started with Wambach in attack, but with the emergence of Alex Morgan, Rodriguez has settled into a super sub’s role. Now, she sees time both at left wing and forward, though a record-tying five-goal performance off the bench in January versus the Dominican Republic showed she can still grab goals at the international level.
Here’s the former USC Trojan after her landmark night in Detroit:
