The returns to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park this spring, taking on Japan on April 17 in Commerce City during the FIFA window.

One of three consecutive USWNT matches against their longtime rival in that time frame, it will be the 10th national team game at Dick’s. The USWNT is 8-0-1 at Dick’s, having first played there in 2008 and most recently a 4-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland last summer.

The April 17 match will kick off at 7 p.m., and will be broadcast on TNT/truTV/HBO Max. Ticketing presale will begin Monday, Jan. 26, and general sales for the game open on Thursday, Jan. 29.

The match at Dick’s could feature two Denver Summit FC players in midfielder Lindsey Heaps, the USWNT captain, as well as Ayo Oke. The defender was recently for matches against Paraguay and Chile.

Summit FC will open its season on March 14 at Bay FC, with its home opener on March 28 at Empower Field. The club will play two matches at Dick’s in its inaugural season on April 25 against San Diego Wave FC and on May 16 against the Orlando Pride.

The career-long Seattle Sounders midfielder assisted both goals in the USMNT’s 2-1 win over the Socceroos, the first time under Pochettino that the team has come from behind to win a game. If a couple of near misses hadn’t been slightly off target, Roldan could have added a pair of goals for good measure.

On the strongest squad called up in the Pochettino era, the 30-year-old Roldan was arguably its best player against Australia at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Tuesday night.

“(Roldan) is what we need. We need a player with confidence, with some belief, with a little bit of arrogance … being competitive,” Pochettino said after the match. “Cristian Roldan is an example of how, if you want to build a perfect player, he has a little bit of everything.”

Like Ecuador on Friday in Austin, Texas, Australia — previously unbeaten in 12 games — scored first within the first 25 minutes. Jordan Bos neatly finished when an awkward clearance bounced into his path to set him up for a close shot.

Afterward, both Roldan assists were on nifty through balls to Haji Wright, one from close range and one from distance in each half. Neither one could have set Wright up better, from the weight to the placement of the passes.

In the first half, a Roldan shot from distance had Aussie keeper Mathew Ryan beat, but went just wide. A few minutes later, a corner fell to him in the box, and he narrowly missed a curling shot seemingly bound for the top right corner.

It����ap been a turbulent few months for Roldan for all the best reasons. In late August, he and the Sounders beat Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup final. A week later, he found himself back in the USMNT fold as a late addition to the September camp. Prior to September camp, he had not played in a U.S. jersey since the 2023 Gold Cup.

For Roldan, recording two goal contributions in an international career that had only garnered three in 36 caps prior is liberating. But he’s not satisfied yet.

“I’m riding the wave. I think it����ap important to ride the wave, right? There’s highs and lows in football, and when it����ap high, you have to take a deep breath and continue in that path, in that wave,” Roldan. “I’ve had such a great second half of the year, including FIFA Club World Cup and leading on. And so it����ap been really great to ride the wave and enjoy the moment with my family. …

“At age 30, I feel like I’m playing at my best, but I know I can still reach another level.”

Wright put himself in the mix by getting on the end of both Roldan services and bagging a brace on a 33rd-minute near-post finish with the outside of his right foot, then a cutback and left-footed curler to the far post.

That����ap now two positions — defensive mid and striker — that will add to Pochettino’s headache in selecting the roster for the November camp and beyond. Not a bad thing given the squad’s tumultuous spring and summer international windows. The midfield was already deep before Roldan’s performance on Tuesday, and now Folarin Balogun seems to have real competition for the No. 9 spot.

“In my mind, they already had a preconceived document they wanted you to sign if you were willing to do it and willing to be considered,” Shotts, CEO of the Colorado Soccer Association, told me recently. “There was a time where I thought there was more that we could’ve done. But when FIFA gives you that paper, it blows everything out the door.”

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team was in town to take on Australia in a friendly Tuesday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park — a match the Americans won 2-1. Sadly, that will likely be the last time Denverites see the Stars & Stripes up close for a while.

The 2026 World Cup is coming to 11 U.S. cities next summer. But Denver, which bid for the event, won’t be one of them.

When Empower Field hosted the CONCACAF Nations League final between the United States and Mexico in 2021, the building stomped and shook like a Saturday at College Station, Texas, or Madison, Wis. Concacaf officials repeatedly praised the atmosphere and the venue. Where did it all go wrong?

“I think at the end of the day, it just became a financial situation,” , one of the big swingers on the Denver World Cup bid committee, told me by phone Tuesday. “We were between owners on the Broncos, and obviously, Empower Field was a huge part of the bid. So, not having clarity on where we were and where we weren’t just made the economic hurdle a little bit too much. It was just, unfortunately, timing.”

If it takes a community to host a World Cup, it takes a village, in retrospect, to lose one. The Broncos were at the listless, rudderless end of The Bowlen Trust Years. The Kroenkes, who own the Rapids, were stretched between hosting bids in Colorado and Los Angeles. Denver was the right town at the wrong time.

I reached out to four individuals who were part of that Denver 2026 bid committee. Three got back. The one thing they all independently circled back on, to a man, was money.

Long story short, FIFA kept demanding more and more of it. World soccer’s largest organizing body wanted the city and county to agree in writing, up front, that they would take on whatever future additional costs piled up.

“FIFA’s demands became very outside the lines,” Shotts said. “Essentially, they wanted you to sign an open document that says you’ll do it, but at whatever cost.

“And our folks were smart enough to realize to go and say, ‘Here is what our offer is. Here is what we can put into it. Accept it or don’t accept it.’ And as you know, they didn’t accept it. Because they wanted more.”

Reports said Denver’s bid was budgeted at $45 million and privately funded. Cohen said the committee went to the state to see if they “could try and fill the gap … and it was something they decided they were uncomfortable with at that time.”

‘I think we did a good job’

In July 2019, Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock stood in front of Empower Field and announced their charge to land the World Cup.

Three years later, that dream was denied.

Confetti cannons stood ready at a watch party for the World Cup announcement in LoDo in June 2022. They were never fired.

FIFA announced 11 host cities in the United States for 2026. Denver didn’t make the cut. Kansas City did. As did Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles.

Let’s cut to the chase, here. Why is Kansas City getting the World Cup next summer, and we’re not?

“The Hunt family stepped up big-time,” Bob Contiguglia, former president of U.S. Soccer and the Denver’s bid committee co-chairman, told The Post.

Clark Hunt, CEO of the Chiefs, is part of a family whose soccer ties run almost as deep as their football ones. The Lamar Hunt Cup, this country’s equivalent of the FA Cup, is named in his father’s honor.

“Kansas City, which was our main competitor, had (their) ownership in place with the Chiefs, who could step up,” Cohen said. “I think it was more leadership than it (was) our dollars, per se.

“… You need somebody up front who obviously has an economic interest in the game leading the (charge) and getting other people to come to the table. It’s a community lift, at the end of the day. But without that leadership piece in place, and clarity as to what the commitment (was), it just made it a bit rough.”

Which is a shame, as Denver had veteran hands on-side. Contiguglia was one of the pillars behind the women’s World Cups in 1999 and 2003 — two major drivers of the sport’s popularity in the U.S. He’s called the Front Range home since 1972. When I asked if he had any regrets about the 2026 bid, in hindsight, he stood firm.

“Not at all,” Contiguglia said. “And with all the news that’s coming out — there are a lot of stories about the host cities struggling to raise money. And so maybe it was the right thing that we did not get it.”

Remember that agreement about open-ended costs? Kansas City’s Wyandotte County, where Sporting KC plays, is now . Houston and Dallas have had to go back and ask for millions from state funds. Add-on expenses for infrastructure, entertainment and logistics are tacking on up to an additional $150 million for each host city, the report stated.

Contiguglia said the Broncos, even with interim ownership, were amenable to making Empower Field more World Cup-friendly. But their ownership transition didn’t ease any doubts about who would foot the bill for any potential makeovers. The Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group finalized its purchase of the team from the Bowlen Family Trust in August 2022 — not long after the 2026 World Cup cities were announced.

“I think,” Contiguglia said, “we did a good job.”

‘It was mostly a timing thing’

Fortunately, Denver gets a second chance to make a first impression. The United States and Mexico are sharing the Women’s World Cup in 2031, and Cohen, Shotts and Contiguglia also expect Denver to bid for one of the hosting slots.

Summit FC will be up and running by then, giving FIFA another example of what a fantastic soccer town Denver really is. Summit’s Santa Fe Yards home is slated to open in 2028. The Broncos’ new stadium at Burnham Yard is targeted to open by 2031.

“The men’s teams in town have been incredibly supportive of the Denver Summit,” Cohen said. “And we’ve got great working relationships across the board. I think that bodes well for the future.”

Next summer, though?

Next summer’s going to be hard.

“Sometimes, you get an offer from somebody to go do something, but it doesn’t align with your calendar,” Cohen said. “Even though it’s something you really want to do, but you can’t make it work. I think that’s the best analogy I can come up with on this. It was mostly a timing thing with us …

“We had a proverbial gun to our head to make our decision and didn’t have the financial support in place in order to (secure) a bid.”

In the first camp since falling just short of a Concacaf Gold Cup victory, head coach Mauricio Pochettino called in another batch of mostly MLS players to give them one last shot at joining the fold for next summer’s World Cup.

The decision was met with criticism, especially after an uninspiring 2-0 loss to South Korea. But then the Americans impressed in a 2-0 win over Japan — 19th in FIFA’s world ranking compared to South Korea’s 23rd — and opened its latest camp with a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in Austin, Texas.

Now, the Americans can make it three unbeaten matches in a row Tuesday night against Australia at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park — the USMNT’s first trip to Colorado since 2017 — and show clear advancement in another international friendly.

“Progression is progression. It����ap difficult to measure,” Pochettino said. “(Australia) beat Canada in Canada, I think we need to respect and we will respect (them). (It) will be another good test like Ecuador.”

Striker Folarin Balogun got back to his scoring ways against Japan after his team was blanked by South Korea, which marked progress for player and for country. For October camp and friendlies, Pochettino called in more big guns — a squad that looks a lot closer to what the World Cup roster will look like than in the September camp.

The USMNT deserved better than a 1-all draw to Ecuador (FIFA’s No. 24 team), but to come away with that conclusion also signals progress. Balogun scored in his second consecutive match to level the match in the final 20 minutes after Ecuador struck in the first half.

“All the strikers that we have are really top players, and they’re scoring goals in their respective leagues and doing a great job at the moment. To pick out (Balogun), he’s a great striker,” Leeds United and USMNT midfielder Brenden Aaronson said on Monday. “I’ve watched his games in Monaco; he’s always going off the back shoulder. He’s really difficult to deal with because he’s always dribbling, going at players, and also going in behind. He’s got two different things that he can play: He can hold up the game, and he can also go in behind and create chances by himself.”

Balogun was the most dangerous player all night against Ecuador at Q2 Stadium on Friday, leading the match in shots and shots on target (3, 2), as well as touches inside the opponent’s box (8).

The striker is getting hot at just the right time, with the Americans most in need of a clear No. 1 at the position. Josh Sargent was the man in 2022 and started the EFL Championship season scorching for his club, Norwich City. But he hasn’t scored in a U.S. jersey since 2018.

Balogun had to wait for his chance, but the Brooklyn-born forward is looking more and more like the answer at striker for 2026.

“It����ap always nice as an attacker, you always want to score. I think the most important thing is to just continue to learn under (Pochettino) and as a group, for us to continue to progress,” Balogun said. “I think no matter how small the progression is, the most important thing is to continuously progress.”

Aaronson reunion: Aaronson got to visit with his brother, Rapids midfielder Paxten Aaronson, at his Denver apartment for the first time since Paxten joined the club for a record fee from Eintracht Frankfurt.

“I’m really happy for him. I think it����ap a huge step in his life, and I think that he’s doing amazing,” Brenden said of Paxten. “He’s trying to do the best that he can, and that����ap what he’ll always do every game. That����ap something you can always count on him for doing. I think it����ap continuing to build and (the Rapids have) got two big games coming up which I’ll be tuning in for.”

More on Zack Steffen’s absence: When the October camp roster was released, Pochettino told reporters he doesn’t tell players why they do or do not make the USMNT squads. Tuesday, he was a bit clearer when it came to Steffen’s omission.

“All the positions are open, but of course, Zack, we know very well, and he’s on our radar,” he said. “Of course, it����ap about competition, it����ap about performance, it����ap about (being) fit — he was a bit unlucky in different camps, he was injured. But for sure, he’s on our radar and, of course, if he performs, he will have the chance to be with us again.”

The notion was solidified by Mauricio Pochettino’s omission of the 30-year-old from the October camp roster and international friendlies on Thursday. One friendly is scheduled against Australia at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, where Steffen and the Rapids play home games, on Oct. 14.

Instead, the four goalkeepers called up were longtime No. 1 Matt Turner, breakout star Matt Freese, up-and-comer Patrick Schulte and uncapped Chris Brady. All four hail from within the MLS, a growing trend within the entire USMNT player pool since Pochettino’s appointment.

At this stage, camp rosters will increasingly mirror what the actual World Cup roster will look like, as there are only so many camps and matches left for the group (and their newly tenured coach) to gel. That����ap why perennial U.S. stars like Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah and Antonee Robinson, among others, will join for October camp after missing the Concacaf Gold Cup back in June.

Pochettino snapped back at reporters asking why certain players were omitted from camp during a media availability discussing the roster. Most notably, he said he “never gives explanations” to players included on or excluded from the roster because, “deep down, (they) know why.”

Digging deeper into Steffen’s omission, it����ap hard to find an obvious answer.

He, like any goaltender, is not immune to making mistakes, like a first-half mishandling against FC Dallas a couple of weeks ago that slipped through his hands for a goal. Steffen made up for it in that game alone with a pair of spectacular saves in the second half. Moreover, he routinely makes eye-popping stops.

He’s also got the volume to stack up to any MLS goalkeeper, let alone the ones called up for October camp. Despite missing 11 games this season, he’s still in the top 10 for total saves in the league. Per game, he’s averaging just more than four saves. The closest of the call-ups is Brady, with 3.5 per contest.

Over the course of the season, Steffen has evolved his game to more closely match what Pochettino’s staff wants. That has included largely doing away with a sweeper-keeper role and becoming more comfortable with staying glued at the penalty spot or closer to the goal, and helping build possession with his feet.

That said, the Pennsylvania native has had painful luck when other call-ups have come around. Back in March, a bad mistake by Turner in the semifinal, which led to a Panama victory and a U.S. relegation to the third-place game, had Steffen firmly in line to start against Canada to prove himself worthy of the No. 1 role. He had been playing some of the best soccer of his career at that moment, but fell ill and couldn’t play in that game.

The other opportunity ground to a halt due to a right meniscus injury that required surgery in June. It was early on in the camp, and his performance in MLS play regressed a bit, so a starting role wasn’t certain for the Gold Cup. But an injury like that could not have come at a worse time.

It����ap likely his name is first up if a goalkeeper has to depart, but Steffen’s next opportunity for a call-up will be in November for the final international window of the calendar year.

The club is in advanced talks to sign U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Paxten Aaronson from Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, a source told The Denver Post on Tuesday.

The source added that while a transfer fee isn’t finalized, it could be a club record that surpasses current Rapids forward Rafael Navarro’s $3.5 million mark. Whatever the number turns out to be, most of the funds will come from the club-record $8 million sale of Djordje Mihailovic earlier this month to Toronto.

Aaronson, 21, started his career as a Philadelphia Union product before moving on to Frankfurt, where he went on loan to multiple Dutch clubs to get playing time. He impressed in the Eredivisie, particularly as a member of Utrecht last season, where he scored eight goals and provided four assists in 33 matches.

Last Sunday, he scored as a late sub in a 5-0 rout of Engers in the first round of the German domestic cup DFB-Pokal.

Aaronson returned to Frankfurt after his loan, seemingly ready to make the step toward regular minutes in the Bundesliga, but instead may end up back in the MLS. It����ap unclear what type of roster slot he’d occupy, but it’s possible he’d take the Designated Player slot Mihailovic vacated.

Aaronson is on the brink of good minutes with the USMNT, too. He appeared in two Concacaf Gold Cup matches, including a start with his brother, Brendan, in a group stage loss to Switzerland. That makes the move a bit puzzling, given the drop-off in competition and quality from the Bundesliga to the MLS.

Should the move be finalized and made official, not only will the Rapids have broken inbound and outbound transfer fee records, but they will also exit a turbulent transfer window with a new face of the franchise.

The window started with the departure of center back Chidozie Awaziem, who was the Rapids’ best defender at the time. Multiple players went out on loan, then another DP (Kévin Cabral) was waived by the club. The biggest bombshell was Mihailovic’s surprise transfer request, which the Rapids complied with and received a major paycheck in return.

Colorado may have made up for Mihailovic’s departure with inbound moves, though. The Rapids brought in two solid center backs: Noah Cobb, a young player who has started and impressed in three matches; and Rob Holding, a Premier League-level player who fell out with his former coach at Crystal Palace. On the back line, they traded for Orlando City left back Rafael Santos to provide depth and instigate competition with Sam Vines for the role.

Offensively, they brought Colombian winger Alexis Manyoma on a one-year loan from Argentinian club Estudiantes. And now they are on the verge of adding Aaronson.

The Rapids are in the midst of a playoff push. In just two matches, they’ve jumped from 10th to seventh in the Western Conference and still have one of the easiest schedules in the league to finish out the campaign.

Holding and Manyoma have yet to debut for the club, and may still have to wait while their P-1 Visa applications are processed and granted. Should the deal for Aaronson go through, that will be three big pieces to integrate in just two months. Time will tell, but the future of life post-Mihailovic may not be so grim for the Rapids after all.

The U.S. Men’s National Team will face Australia in a friendly at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Oct. 14 for its first match in Denver since the 2021 Nations League final against Mexico. It will be the team’s first match at DSGP since 2017.

The match will be the second of a pair of October friendlies, the first being in Austin against Ecuador on Oct. 10. It will be the second time a U.S. national team visits DSGP in 2025, after the women’s national team routed the Republic of Ireland, 4-0, in June.

The USMNT has played just three times at DSGP, but has had some memorable moments. Perhaps most notable of all is 2013’s “Snow Clasico,” a World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica that saw Clint Dempsey score the lone goal in a 1-0 win in the midst of a blizzard.

Fresh off a second-place finish at the Concacaf Gold Cup that culminated in a 2-1 loss to Mexico in the final, the USMNT is less than a year from co-hosting the 2026 World Cup. Colorado Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic and goalkeeper Zack Steffen are in the mix for roles when that time comes.

Steffen, who is putting together a career year in goal, is the most likely to feature after being the presumed starter for the Gold Cup before a knee injury sidelined him for the tournament. Mihailovic, who recorded three assists against Vancouver last Saturday and set a club record for goal contributions in his first two seasons with the club (39), was included on the preliminary 60-man Gold Cup roster but did not make the final cut for an already-stacked midfield core.

The USMNT has played Australia, which will participate in the World Cup, just three times in its history and has a 1-1-1 record. Tickets go on pre-sale on Tuesday, before public sale begins on Friday.

The Colorado Rapids’ goalkeeper will miss 4-6 weeks after undergoing “successful” surgery to address an injury to his right medial meniscus, the club announced Tuesday. Before joining the Rapids in 2023, Steffen had surgery on his left meniscus, which kept him out several months.

The 30-year-old suffered the injury during training camp with the U.S. Men’s National Team ahead of two friendlies before the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Before going down, he was expected to make the final Gold Cup roster and may have been the starter for Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.

With the Rapids, he had put together one of his best starts to a season to date. In 11 MLS starts, he made 48 saves, good for the most per game of any goalkeeper in the league this season.

But injuries started to creep in. Against San Diego FC a month ago, he injured an oblique muscle on an awkward scrambling defensive play. He sat out until reporting to USMNT camp on June 1, but left just a few days later.

For Steffen, fortune has been about as unfriendly as it gets. Whether it����ap little injuries, sickness, or, in this case, surgery, bouts of unavailability seem to come right on the precipice of a breakthrough with the national team.

Big picture, with a relatively underwhelming goalkeeper room at the international level, this window offered a great opportunity for Steffen to impress Pochettino ahead of next year’s World Cup on U.S. soil.

In his place, third-string Rapid Nico Hansen has been excellent as backup Adam Beaudry also sat with an ankle injury for upwards of a month. In five starts, he’s recorded two clean sheets (one fewer than Steffen) and has only conceded five goals, none of which could really be pinned on Hansen alone. The Rapids will continue to lean on the 23-year-old while Steffen recovers.

The Colorado Rapids announced that the goalkeeper departed the U.S. Men’s National Team training camp on Wednesday after suffering a knee injury ahead of a pair of international friendlies and the Concacaf Gold Cup. He will undergo further evaluation in Colorado before the club sets a timeline for his absence, but .

Steffen was part of a 27-man training camp roster, which will be trimmed to a final 26-player group for the Gold Cup by the Wednesday evening deadline for all participating countries. He was the second goalkeeper (Patrick Schulte) to be sidelined from camp with an injury.

Steffen is in the midst of a career year and was challenging perennial starter Matt Turner for the USMNT’s spot, but another extenuating circumstance has gotten in the 30-year-old’s way.

Back in October of last year, Steffen was called up to the USMNT for a camp and friendlies, which marked the first camp roster for new coach Mauricio Pochettino and Steffen’s first time back in the fray since 2022. He didn’t feature, but the claw back from a less-than-fruitful stint in England and 2023 meniscus surgery felt complete.

In January, he took the field for the USMNT in a friendly against Costa Rica, during which he kept a clean sheet with two brilliant saves (three total) in his first international minutes in nearly three years.

This March, he was called up again for the final two rounds of the Nations League tournament. After a late mistake by Turner all but cost the USMNT the semifinal match against Panama, Steffen was set to play in the third-place game against Canada before an illness sidelined him.

In a loss at San Diego FC on May 14, Steffen injured an oblique on an odd scrambling play in the first half, which kept him out until he departed for the current USMNT camp on June 1. The club considered him day-to-day for more than a week, but with third-string keeper Nico Hansen playing well, Steffen sat to err on the side of caution.

Now comes yet another bout of misfortune.

On the MLS side, Steffen had been recognized as an early MVP candidate for his heroics in numerous matches, particularly a 12-save performance in a 2-1 win at high-powered San Jose.

According to American Soccer Analysis, he’s second in the MLS in goals added, an advanced metric to measure goalkeepers’ shot-stopping and overall impact, while playing at least 400 fewer minutes than the rest of the top eight. With 48 saves in 11 games, he leads the league in saves per game at 4.36.

The Gold Cup begins June 14. The USMNT plays its first group stage match against Trinidad and Tobago a day later.

Johnson, 56, was officially named the first general manager of Denver’s NWSL expansion franchise on Thursday morning. He comes to the gig after a stint as the and he also previously spent time in the front office of the Richmond Kickers, Sporting Kansas City and North Carolina FC.

“Usually when you’re a new GM, you come in because there’s a problem,” Johnson said. “The team isn’t performing, or you’ve got to hire a new coach, or maybe the front office is struggling. I’ve never gone into an expansion situation like this, and I’m looking forward to it.

“And really, it’s even better than a clean slate because we have all this wind in our sails — 10,000-plus season ticket commitments, all of the team facility news. This is ideal.”

Johnson is Denver NWSL’s second major hire after the club tabbed Cherry Creek and CU alum Jen Millet as its president and first official employee last month. Johnson signed a multi-year contract with an option. He comes into the club that’s set to play its first two seasons at a modular stadium in Centennial before moving to a permanent home in Denver — a 14,500-seat stadium at Santa Fe Yards that was recently green-lit by the Denver City Council.

The Raleigh, N.C., native played collegiately at North Carolina State and is a member of the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame.

He’ll have a busy rest of the year ahead of him as he fills out the team’s leadership framework, in addition to building the roster from scratch. There is no expansion or college draft, so the entirety of Denver NWSL’s roster will be free agents.

Johnson, who is moving out to Colorado this weekend, has already started creating a list of player targets as well as candidates to be the team’s first head coach. Of notable coaches with Colorado connections, Lorne Donaldson — the longtime Real Colorado leader who was the Chicago Red Stars head coach in 2024 — is the most obvious local candidate.

“We have a long list of coaches that we’ve narrowed down to a medium list,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’t say we’re in the short list phase, but we’re working through our process on that.”

In addition to a head coach, Johnson will also be hiring an assistant GM, technical director, director of operations and player experience, and director of medical and performance.

“The goal is to hire the head coach as soon as possible, knowing it may take a little while … but the head coach hire is not going to hold us up from hiring some of the other positions,” Johnson said. “Some of these hires may be in parallel.”

While the NWSL’s 2025 season doesn’t end until the championship game on Nov. 22, the When that date hits, Johnson and the Denver NWSL front office will have roughly six months to put together the roster. In addition to negotiating with free agents in America, the club can make contact with international free agents six months before their contracts end.

Notable Colorado players that Johnson could try to sign include some of the biggest names in women’s soccer.

Lindsey Heaps (nee Horan) is under contract with Lyon until summer 2026, so she could be a target, even if she’s not in kit at the start of the ’26 season. Sophia Wilson (nee Smith) has a player option with the Portland Thorns for the 2026 season. She is currently on maternity leave. And Jaelin Howell, now with NJ/NY Gotham Football Club, will be a free agent in ’26.

Johnson said the club will be targeting high-profile Colorado players, emphasizing that “we want this roster to have the DNA of Colorado soccer.”

“We’re certainly going to go after the best Colorado soccer players, as well as the best U.S. players and we’ll go after some great international players,” Johnson said. “That’s the best way to go about this. We think this is going to be a place where those who have grown up playing soccer in Colorado are going to want to play for.”