Friday night, March 7, 2025, is set to be a significant one for NWSL fans. Hopefully, your calendar is clear because the highly anticipated 6th edition of the Challenge Cup is on the horizon. Last season’s Shield and Championship winners, Orlando Pride, will face off against the Washington Spirit. Both teams appear to be in top form, fully focused on securing this crucial piece of silverware. However, in a match that demands a strong starting lineup and a reliable bench, the Spirit and their devoted fanbase find themselves asking one pressing question—will Trinity Rodman play in the Challenge Cup?

The USWNT forward has been struggling with injury since the end of last season. After a promising start to the 2024 campaign, she even fired on all cylinders at the Paris Olympics. But just a month later, the daughter of Dennis Rodman found herself relapsing on her back injury during a regular season NWSL game against the KC Current. The 22-year-old was literally forced to leave the pitch in a wheelchair.

Initially, it didn’t look to be that grave as the injury only kept Rodman out for two regular-season games but did ultimately end up making her miss three international windows. She had managed to return in time for the NWSL playoffs. However, the truth was that she played through discomfort, something she openly admitted herself. In fact, following the final, the winger confessed, “I wasn’t the Trin that I wanted to be today.”

Since then, the whole post-campaign and the current pre-season have seen her recuperate from her back injury. In fact, in order to remain focused on her recovery, the forward wasn’t even called up for the recent SheBelieves Cup campaign. By now, more than a couple of months have passed since she played the NWSL Championship final in pain. So that would mean she must have recovered, right?

Honestly, this is something that is quite hard to tell. Just a couple of days are remaining before the Washington Spirit takes on Orlando Pride. But there has been no specific injury update issued by either Trinity Rodman or her domestic team. Then again, this also doesn’t mean things aren’t on a positive trajectory. Earlier, the talented winger admitted that she is “in a really good place” concerning her injury.

So whether Rodman will be able to play in the NWSL Challenge Cup is something that’s pretty much decided. And no possibility of magic is expected, especially considering what she had to say about her knock.

Trinity Rodman will make a slow return to the pitch

Earlier, the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist shared how things have been for her following the conclusion of the NWSL season. “I feel good, I feel better than I was… Just focused on building that slowly and not just jumping right back into things and doing it the right way,” said Rodman. The youngster clearly admitted that compared to how she was forced to play the NWSL Championship final in pain, things are much better now.

Additionally, the Spirit forward emphasized the need for patience. One should know that it didn’t take much time for the old back injury to make a return. So quickly jumping over a return to action is clearly the last thing Rodman is looking to do. The U.S. international has been maintaining a slow and steady approach to make a quick recovery.

Either way, failure to make an appearance in the upcoming Challenge Cup would suggest her road to recovery is still stretching on. In that case, let’s hope that Jonathan Giraldez has a plan for his team to try winning against Orlando Pride without their star player!