‘I’m meant to be here.’ Boise’s Huerta fights her way back on U.S. women’s soccer team

The U.S. women’s soccer team starts a pivotal tournament Monday with World Cup and Olympic qualifying on the line. And a Boise native stands poised to fill a key role for the world’s No. 1-ranked team.

Sofia Huerta recently went three and a half years without making an appearance for the U.S. But after remaking herself as a defender for club and country, she’s forced her way back into the lineup ahead of the Concacaf W Championship.

The tournament represents the biggest stage yet for Huerta, with the U.S. opening the North American, Central American and Caribbean championship against Haiti at 5 p.m. Monday in Mexico (CBS Sports Network). The top four teams advance to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and the winner automatically qualifies for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

After years of watching the U.S. play its biggest games from home, Huerta enters the two-week tournament ready to assert herself as a mainstay on the American roster.

“I’m more comfortable with where I’m at, not just position-wise, but mentally,” Huerta said in a press conference Monday. “I feel comfortable being here, and I’m confident that I’m meant to be here.”

Huerta admits that comfort didn’t always come so easy. She heard plenty of “no’s” on her path from Boise to the pros and to the national team. But after betting on herself time and time again, those gambles appear ready to pay off as the United States searches for a new generation of talent.

HUERTA TURNS DOWN MEXICO TO CHASE U.S. DREAM

The 2011 Centennial High grad once wrote in a school assignment that she dreamed of playing for the U.S. national team. But the road to the top was anything but straight.

U.S. coaches invited her to a training camp ahead of the U-20 World Cup in 2012, only to leave her off the final roster. So Mexico scooped up the dual citizen, whose father, Maurico, was born in Mexico.

She scored three goals in three games for Mexico in Japan that summer, proving herself on the international stage. The performance led to five appearances with Mexico’s senior team, including a 2013 friendly against the United States, leaving Huerta with the distinction as the only one to ever play for and against the U.S.

Then Huerta made her first gamble, walking away from the Mexican team in 2014 and choosing to focus all her attention on making the U.S. roster.

A breakout rookie season in 2015 with the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars served as a start. But playing for the U.S. didn’t come down to on-field results. It came down to paperwork.

Huerta had to convince FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, to approve a one-time transfer to let her play for the U.S. The opaque process took months. FIFA eventually ruled in her favor in 2017, and she recorded an assist in her first appearance two days later in a friendly against New Zealand.

That made her the first Idaho-born person to play for the U.S. national team. But that’s where the fairy tale took another twist.

POSITION CHANGE LEADS TO EXILE, RETURN

Huerta gained her notoriety as an offensive powerhouse, someone who could blaze past defenders and find the back of the net. Whether she played on the wing, in the midfield or at striker, her goal-scoring prowess brought her to the top of women’s professional soccer and earned her a spot on the NWSL’s all-league second team as midfielder or forward three times.

But a U.S. team packed with generational talent had little use for another offensive playmaker. So former U.S. coach Jill Ellis asked her to make the switch to right back, a position she had no formal experience with and one she struggled to convince her professional clubs to let her play.

The Chicago Red Stars refused, so Huerta requested a trade. That backfired when her new club, Houston, also saw no reason to waste one of the league’s top offensive talents on the back line.

With her only chances to learn a new position coming at the international level, she fell off the national team’s radar. She didn’t make the roster for World Cup qualifying in 2018, the U.S. won the World Cup in 2019 without her, and eventually she stopped receiving invitations to training camps altogether.

“Of course, I was given opportunities,” Huerta said Monday. “But I just never felt like I was given a chance to really perfect that position.”

So Huerta made one last gamble to chase her dreams. She packed her bags for Australia, where Sydney FC guaranteed her time on its backline and a chance to finally prove herself at the position. A quick study, she became one of the Australian circuit’s top players while leading Sydney to a W-League title in 2019 and a runner-up finish in 2020.

A 2020 trade to Seattle’s OL Reign awarded her a fresh start in the NWSL. While the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the 2020 season, she finally made the permanent switch to outside back in 2021. She promptly led the league in assists (six) and made the all-league second team for a fourth time.

KEY ROLE FOR U.S. AT WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

Huerta’s recent form caught the eye of a U.S. team in transformation. After a disappointing third-place finish at the Olympics last summer, U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski began searching for new American stars to pepper onto an aging roster.

The Concacaf tournament serves as the first test for the new group. The U.S. rostered 23 players for its trip to Mexico. Only nine of those traveled to Japan for the Olympics last summer.

Huerta rejoined the national team in November for a trip to Australia after 43 months in exile. She’s since become a regular, appearing in five of seven games in 2022, including three starts. She’s produced, too, having a hand in three goals for the U.S. this year.

The latest came Tuesday, when her dangerous cross to Megan Rapinoe went off a Colombian defender for an own goal in a 2-0 victory in Sandy, Utah. She forced another own goal and tallied an assist in a 5-0 win over New Zealand in the SheBelieves Cup in February.

The recent performances leave Huerta as the likely reserve for Kelley O’Hara at right back for the Concacaf championship. O’Hara helped lead the Americans to an Olympic gold medal in 2012 and World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019. But the U.S. could play as many as five games in 15 days in Mexico, leaving plenty of minutes for reserves.

A strong performance would also bode well for the 29-year-old Huerta’s future, as O’Hara will turn 35 during the next World Cup and 36 during the next Olympics.

“This is my first big tournament,” Huerta said. “But I do know that obviously with so many games in such a short amount of time, hopefully I will get a chance to show what I can do.

“But I’m very understanding of what my role is, and I’m just really, really happy to be here.”

Making it here seemed like a long shot growing up in Boise. It seemed like a crazy dream when she walked away from a chance to star for Mexico. And it looked like the opportunity had slipped through her fingers when she fell out of favor in 2018.

But years of strategic bets, dedication and chasing opportunities finally tipped the odds in her favor, placing her back on the main stage with the American team.

“I trusted my gut in terms of making that decision and switching to the U.S.,” Huerta said. “A lot of people questioned that. A lot of people close to me questioned that. I sometimes questioned that.

“But, obviously, I made the right decision because I’m here — where I know I’m meant to be.”

AMERICAN FALLS’ SANCHEZ PLAYING FOR MEXICO

Idaho will have another homegrown player at the Concacaf championship, as winger Maria Sanchez has emerged into one of Mexico’s top players.

Sanchez, 26, already has one World Cup appearance under her belt, suiting up for Mexico at the 2015 tournament as a 19-year-old. She’s since become a regular for Mexico and currently is tied for the NWSL lead with three assists for Houston this season.

CBS Sports named her one of the top NWSL players to watch at the tournament not playing for the U.S.

Sanchez graduated from American Falls High in 2014 with 178 career goals, including 68 in 17 games as a senior. That earned her a mention in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd.

The daughter of two Mexican immigrants, her family couldn’t afford for her to play club soccer, she told the Idaho Statesman in 2015. Instead, she honed her skills playing against her older brothers and their friends at the middle school across the street from their home.

The U.S. and Mexico square off at 8 p.m. July 11 in the final game of the group stage, possibly pitting the two Idaho natives against each other.

BOISE’S MADRIL GETS FIRST NATIONAL CAP

Boise native Emily Madril made her first appearance for a U.S. national team Tuesday, suiting up for the U-23 women’s team in a 3-0 victory against host Sweden during the Three-Nations Tournament.

Madril grew up playing for the predecessor to the Boise Timbers Thorns youth club and led Centennial High to a 5A state runner-up finish as a freshman in 2013.

She then moved to Florida, where she was named Miss Soccer as the state player of the year before signing with Florida State. The ACC Defensive Player of the Year led the Seminoles to the NCAA national title in December.