Idaho native selected for U.S. Women’s World Cup team. She’s the first in state history

Boise native Sofia Huerta spent years betting on herself, hearing the word “no” over and over again. But all those no’s turned into a dream-making yes Wednesday.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team selected Huerta as part of its 23-player roster for this summer’s World Cup, making her the first Idaho native named to a men’s or women’s U.S. World Cup team.

Huerta, 30, joins the two-time defending world champs as they try to become the first country to win three titles in a row. The U.S. starts group play July 21 against Vietnam.

“I think I blacked out a bit,” Huerta told Bleacher Report after receiving the news. “I was definitely crying, also laughing nervously. … I couldn’t be more excited to be selected. It’s such an honor.”

Wednesday’s selection capped a journey that saw Huerta, a 2011 Centennial High grad, turn down a chance to star for the Mexican national team to chase her dream of playing for the red, white and blue. That gamble led to plenty of doubts as the dual citizen went three and a half years without making an appearance for the world’s premier women’s soccer power.

Even Huerta wondered whether she made the right decision to make the one-time transfer to play for the U.S. But she remade herself from one of the NWSL’s top offensive players into a steady and dangerous right back to catch the attention of U.S. coaches. And after 43 months in exile, the switch paid off as she started receiving regular national team call-ups as the U.S. searched for its next generation of talent.

“People just really liked to tell me that I wasn’t going to ever make it,” Huerta told the Washington Post in May.

“I was always told when I was younger, that I was good for Idaho but I would never make it in college. When I was in college, I was good in college but I’m never going to make it in the pros. Then when I got to the pros, I was really good in the pros but I would never make the national team. So I literally have always been told no.”

Not anymore. Huerta has since appeared in 20 of the U.S. team’s past 25 games. That includes three starts and appearances in all five games during last summer’s Concacaf W Championship, which the U.S. won to clinch a World Cup berth and a trip to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Yet her spot on the World Cup team was anything but a given. She spent all spring listed as on the bubble by a range of media outlets. Despite ranking second all-time in NWSL history with 30 career assists, her lack of experience and age were seen by pundits as reasons she might be passed over.

But Huerta’s consistent production and recent form with her club, OL Reign in Seattle, made her hard to leave off the roster.

“I’m proud of the fact I’ve been told no so many times,” Huerta told Bleacher Report. “I’ll note that I’m 30 years old. It’s really rare for someone who’s 30 to have their first major tournament.

“I think some players on the list that are under the age of 30 are going to their second and on their way to their third, even. I’m proud that regardless of what anyone was saying on Twitter, or just anyone wanting to voice their opinion that I’d never be a part of a major tournament with the U.S. women’s national team, I never really let that get to me.

“Of course, sometimes it would creep in. Of course, self-doubt would also be there at times. But I just believed that I knew what I was capable of. And that if I did whatever I could on and off the field, I would be selected for a major tournament at one point in my career.”