Following the North Carolina Courage’s win over the Washington Spirit Saturday at WakeMed Soccer Park, you could easily confuse Jill Ellis with just another mingler. There she was on the field, clad in civies, moving amid the roving throng of players, coaches, staffers, journalists, team media and other personnel.

One moment she’s greeting a player, the next she’s saddled next to a reporter, issuing a casual observation or two. During the match, between private exchanges with members of the U.S. coaching staff accompanying her, she’d favor the occasional kid or two who’d venture over to her seat seeking an autograph.

It’s as much accessibility as you’re likely to see from the U.S. Women’s National Team manager in an American soccer setting.

Ellis returns to that same setting in early October, when the USWNT plays three matches at WakeMed Soccer Park as part of the group stage of the Concacaf Women’s Championship, part of the qualifying process for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Saturday, Ellis was in Cary to observe several regular and perhaps potential members of the USWNT who play their club soccer for the Courage and Spirit.

WRALSportsFan sat down with Ellis prior to Saturday’s match to discuss several topics, beginning with why she was in town and if she’s looking forward to coming back.

WRALSportsFan: You’ve been making your way around the NWSL lately. You were in Portland last week, and DC before that. What brings you to North Carolina tonight?

JILL ELLIS: What I like to try to do is go to every home [NWSL] venue to connect with coaches, and hopefully get in early enough to see training. Tonight is a big match, a lot of our [U.S. national team] players are here, so it just made sense to come here.

You and the U.S. Women’s National Team are obviously returning here in October for the group stage of the Concacaf Women’s Championship. Both the group stage and knockout round venues this year are comparatively smaller than their counterparts four years ago. Is there a reason for that, and does playing in a facility like WakeMed Soccer Park offer the U.S. an advantage or disadvantage compared to other potential venues?

In terms of selecting venues, I don’t have anything to do with that. The things that matter to me are the surface and the quality of the field. This is a great venue—we love playing here. And we always get a good turnout [here]. Sometimes when you’re playing [World Cup] qualifiers, because there are doubleheaders and other games, the crowds are potentially not as big as when we have standalone games. But for us, we were delighted that we’re coming here. I think we’ll get a good turnout, people will get behind us and understand what’s at stake, and we’re very much looking forward to coming back to Cary.

You have a couple of friendlies coming up in June against China. When are you going to announce player call-ups for those?

It’s typically two weeks out. That allows me to watch the games up until that point, and we always have players returning from injuries.

The calendar is gradually closing, so absent injuries, how closely will these June call-ups resemble the call-ups we’ll see in October?

We still have players who are still working their way back into form. What I’ve done this year, as much as possible, is be consistent in the core group we’ve had. Last year, we had a lot of different players come through. This year, it still seems like we’ve brought in other players, but that’s because we’ve had this large bout of injuries. But I think if you look at the roster, you’ll see a consistency in certain players, so in that regard I think we definitely have a good core group to select from.

Christen Press wasn’t called in for the April friendlies against Mexico. You said at the time that it was because she needed to get back into “a consistent training and match environment.” Has that now happened with her play in Sweden, and will she be among the call-ups in June?

I’m not going to discuss the call-ups at this point. You may not know, ,Christen actually played the other day dealing with an injury. So that decision will come closer to the time in terms of looking at players who are available. But, I’m very pleased that she’s gone into an environment where she’s playing regular minutes and is training. So, that’s a positive, for sure.

Has she made progress in your eyes from where she was in April?

I don’t think it’s about making progress … To come into a national team, a player needs to be playing and training regularly. That should be an expectation of this program. It was a message that was shared with the team at the end of 2016. It’s the same message Jane Campbell got when she wasn’t playing regular. It was, you need to get regular minutes in order to be evaluated and seen. Christen had to sort through some things and make some decisions, and she’s been able to do that.

Last week, USADA announced a public warning to Abby Dahlkemper for not obtaining an exemption for therapeutic use of a prohibited substance. She later obtained a retroactive TUE. U.S. Soccer issued their own statement on the matter. How has this episode affected Dahlkemper’s standing with the U.S. national team from your standpoint, if at all?

No way. It was an acknowledged mistake, it’s a younger player. We remind our players fairly regularly about checking with prescriptions. I think it was handled in the correct way, and Abby was very responsive and remorseful in her decision. But, again, I think it was mistake.

What are your plans for working Sam Mewis back into the national team setup and lineup?

I’m just pleased at this point, because Sam was obviously carrying a fairly significant injury, so I’m delighted that she’s back playing. She started the last [Courage] game, and Paul [Riley, NC Courage manager] and I have spoken that’s the plan, to increase minutes. We [Ellis and Portland Thorns manager Mark Parsons] are doing it with Tobin [Heath]. All these [NWSL] coaches have been great with of working their players back into minutes. In terms of Sam, I know what Sam’s top end is capable of, and I’m excited to see her get back to that.

[Note: Following this interview, with Ellis looking on, Sam Mewis played her first full match this year against the Spirit.]

You’ve had some issues lately with injuries to outside backs, whether it’s Kelley O’Hara or Casey Short, who may not be healthy for the China friendlies. Are you still planning to use Emily Sonnett at outside back?

Yeah, I think so. The way [the Portland Thorns] play in a back three—although they did switch to a back four 20 minutes into the game today against Orlando—they way they play it’s a position Sonnett is comfortable with. She’s a good defender. I think necessity is the mother of invention, and she’s done well there. So it gives us depth at that position, and it’s a position where we’re thin, obviously with these two players hurt. Same with Crystal [Dunn], in terms of playing her at [outside back]. The way we play our outside backs, and with Crystal specifically, ninety percent of the time is playing forward. We need depth there, and they’ve both done a very good job.

You speak frequently about the need for U.S. players to get minutes and playing time at their club level in order to stay mentally and match fit. But, how much of an impediment is it for national team players and results when the roles and positions those players fill for the national team are markedly different than the positions they’re playing regularly for their clubs?

It’s a good question. It is definitely a challenge. As the national team coach, you respect what the club coaches need to do with their personnel. You have conversations in terms of facilitating and helping a player playing in a position where we’re obviously looking at them. But I can’t dictate that. In years past, where [the USWNT] would come in for longer periods, you’d have six, seven, eight days of training before you played a game. Now, they play their weekend matches, they come in, and three days later we’re [playing a game]. Essentially, it’s recovery day, training day, stadium training—which is very light, as you know—and then play. So, it’s less time, if that player is playing a different position, to get them familiar [with another position] as best you can. So it’s a challenge. Yeah, for example, some club teams play man-to-man on set pieces, and we play zone.

For instance, from your coaching philosophy, how do you balance calling up the best available right backs versus the best available players who can play right back?

You look at the attributes of what you need at the position. So if you were to say, hey Jill, what do you value and want in your number 6 in terms of how you want to play, you look at a player and you look at those attributes and qualities and ask can they translate. A player like Sofia Huerta: a good crosser of the ball, athletic, has some grit and fight in her, pretty decent in terms of playing off of other players. So, she has those attributes that I like in an outside back.

I’m not set to a system or a style. Last year, we evaluated all the players, we looked at what’s best for our core players who are regularly in, and that’s the system and shape we want to play. So now it’s looking at those attributes in other players and asking, can they play there? In the beginning of 2017, I wanted a passing quality out of the back line. As much as our center backs are now on the ball in games and having to be more a part of set play, that quality led me to looking at Allie Long as a center back. Her passing completion rate was off the charts, and we broke lines with ease. You also have to look at the game as two sides, attacking and defending, and can [a player] do both. A player who might be fantastic in their attacking game at a certain position might not have what I value and need in a defensive situation.

Has the World Cup itch hit you yet?

In 2011, having to go to the play-off round always makes you realize that nothing is given or guaranteed. You have to earn it every minute of every day. People talk about France, and I’m like, oh my God, we have to lock this down in qualifying.