Pia Sundhage yesterday released the 21-woman roster for CONCACAF qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. The tournament starts Friday night in Vancouver, and only the two finalists in the competition will make it; there is no last-chance playoff qualifier like there was when the U.S. had to beat Italy in a home-and-home series to make it to last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The roster is unchanged from the silver-medal side from Germany 2011 except for one outfield substitution. The United States will not be carrying a third goalkeeper; Hope Solo and Nicole Barnhart are the two netminders in the roster; Jill Loyden has been dropped.

Defender Stephanie Cox is also not in the side, and instead the Hammers will be carrying an extra forward: Sydney Leroux, the age-group national team star. The UCLA graduate has exactly one national-team cap, but she is also the capstone of what is going to be a generational shift within the U.S. women’s national team pool in the leadup to the next Women’s World Cup in Canada.

Leroux, drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Beat in last week’s WPS draft, was a supernova in the U20 ranks, becoming the all-time leading scorer for the junior national side in FIFA competitions.

But as the most recent U20 World Cup showed, Leroux may be the last of the greatest generation of women’s national team performers that push themselves like the Chastains, Foudys, Hamms, and Overbecks. This tournament is Leroux’s chance; we’ll see if she makes the most of it.