Philadelphia’s ties to the 2023 women’s World Cup

For the first time in a while, there aren’t any players on a U.S. women’s World Cup squad who call the Philadelphia region home. But while vegemite doesn’t go well on a cheesesteak (if you don’t know what vegemite is, take our word for it), there still will be a Philly flavor to the upcoming spectacle in Australia and New Zealand.

Here is a look at the local names to know at the 2023 women’s World Cup.

Former Eagles star tight end Zach Ertz wasn’t the only member of the household who put roots down in Philadelphia. Julie spent a lot of time here too during her offseasons. For as long as Eagles fans still claim the current Arizona Cardinal as one of their own, local women’s soccer fans will claim her, too.

And the Ertzes still care a lot about the city. In May, they returned here to help their charitable foundation open the House of Hope in Hunting Park, a recreational facility for kids in the neighborhood. Ertz will be playing in her third World Cup.

» READ MORE: Julie Ertz is grateful for a chance to return to the USWNT, even if the timing is awkward

Though she’s not from the Philly area originally, the U.S. defender went to high school at the Pennington School in Mercer County, not far from Yardley and New Hope across the Delaware River. Then she was recruited to Stanford by future Union chief video analyst Jay Cooney, a Cardinal assistant at the time.

» READ MORE: Learn more about how Alana Cook rose to prominence

This one might surprise you, but it’s true. He played 13 games for the former Kixx indoor team in the 2005-06 season.

» READ MORE: Before the Union, the Kixx were Philly’s soccer team, and U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski played for them

The Delran product is going to her fifth women’s World Cup, but this time it’s not as a player. Lloyd will be one of the lead analysts on Fox’s studio team in Sydney, with a set on the harbor near the famed opera house.

There might not be a better comeback story anywhere in sports right now than the Havertown product’s return to soccer. There might not have ever been a better one in the women’s game.

When she stopped playing in late 2015, barely anyone knew why. The world found out six years later when she blew the lid off an era of abuse in the NWSL, sparking a reckoning that continues to this day.

Then a few months ago, a 33-year-old Farrelly took up a tryout with Gotham FC. Before long, she wasn’t just on the field again, she was called up to Ireland’s women’s national team to play against the United States in April. (Her father’s roots qualify her.)

Now she’s not just back, she’s thriving for club and country, and she’s about to shine on the biggest stage of all.

A Sellersville product and Penn State grad, she has Irish roots on her mother’s side. Her solid play for the Washington Spirit earned her a call-up to Ireland’s squad in February and later a World Cup ticket.

Coincidentally, Farrelly and Sheva played for the same Downingtown-based United Spirit Gaels youth team some years apart and have brothers who were youth club teammates. But the two women didn’t know each other personally until they met at Ireland’s camp in April.

» READ MORE: Havertown’s Sinead Farrelly and Sellersville’s Marissa Sheva make Ireland’s World Cup team

One of the top American referees is now well-established at the top of the world’s game. A longtime chemical researcher until she became a full-time official, the Rochester, N.Y., product moved to Philadelphia a few years ago.

This will be her third straight World Cup, after the 2019 women’s tournament and the 2022 men’s tournament.

The Union’s former local TV broadcaster has long been Fox Sports’ lead women’s soccer play-by-play voice and one of the all-timers in American soccer history.

This will be his 17th career World Cup, the seventh women’s tournament to go with 10 men’s tournaments. As was the case in 2019, he’ll be teamed with former USWNT star and current analyst Aly Wagner.

» READ MORE: The USWNT World Cup team brims with youth, charisma, and new stars in the making

The local TV voice of the 76ers is a lifelong soccer fan with a lot of experience calling the sport She’ll do group stage play-by-play for Fox with analyst Danielle Slaton.

Though the duo will work off monitors in Los Angeles instead of being at stadiums, Scott still gladly called it “a bucket-list thing” in an interview with The Inquirer last month.

“If Fox would have asked me to call this standing on one leg at the bottom of my pool, I would have said yes because it’s not often that the opportunity to call a World Cup comes across in anybody’s career,” she said.

After the group stage ends, Scott will head up to Seattle to call play-by-play for the NFL Seahawks’ preseason games. Then she’ll return to Philadelphia to get ready for the new 76ers campaign.

» READ MORE: Sixers broadcaster Kate Scott to call women’s World Cup games for Fox

It’s been a dozen years since she played for the former Philadelphia Independence in Women’s Professional Soccer, the NWSL’s predecessor; and since she played in the 2011 World Cup for the United States. She liked Philly so much that she put down roots, and travels from here to be a color analyst on NWSL games for CBS and MLS games for Apple.

At this World Cup, Lindsey will be based in Australia on Fox’s No. 2 broadcast team, teamed with play-by-play voice Jacqui Oatley.

One of Fox’s studio analysts and the general manager of the NWSL’s Portland Thorns, the longtime Canadian goalkeeper played for the Independence in 2010, the team’s first season.

» READ MORE: Taylor Swift, Jalen Hurts and Quinta Brunson help unveil the USWNT’s World Cup roster

Alyssa Naeher is set to be the United States’ starting goalkeeper, after backstopping the 2019 World Cup title and playing at the 2021 Olympics. Sheva was a Nittany Lion from 2015-18, and won a national championship as a freshman. One of her teammates, Raquel “Rocky” Rodríguez, is a star for Costa Rica. Germany’s Laura Freigang spent two seasons in Happy Valley as a teen before turning pro. Olivia Smith was a late pick to Canada’s team.

Casey Murphy will challenge Naeher in net, while Chantelle Swaby and Tiernny Wiltshire will play for Jamaica. Lloyd is a Rutgers alumna, and so is fellow Fox analyst Alexi Lalas.

Your subscription powers our newsroom and journalism like this. Support our work by visiting inquirer.com/tannenwald and receive unlimited access to Inquirer.com, The Inquirer App, and e-Edition at a special price: $1 for three months.