The 27-player squad that Kilgore has selected looks very similar to the World Cup roster, although Sophia Smith, Kelley O’Hara and Kristie Mewis are missing due to injuries.

Ashley Hatch, Sam Coffey, Tierna Davidson and Casey Krueger make their return to the USWNT team, which includes three uncapped players: 22-year-old Mia Fishel of Chelsea, 18-year-old forward from San Diego Wave Jaedyn Shaw and M.A. Vignola of Angel City FC.

“The Olympics may seem like they are far away, but the amount of time that the players get with the National Team between now and Paris is not a lot, so we need to start that journey now,” Kilgore told ussoccer.com after naming the roster for the upcoming friendlies.

“No matter who the coach is, or which players get to wear the crest, the standards remain the same and everyone wants to excel, so we’ll be looking forward to putting together two good performances against a South Africa team that showed well at the World Cup.”

Kilgore is expected to remain in charge also for the friendlies against Colombia next month.

The USWNT have already qualified for Paris 2024, as they claimed the CONCACAF W Championship.