LOS ANGELES — Mia Fishel should have been in the starting lineup for the women’s national team Tuesday. Instead, she wasn’t even on the roster.

The first CONCACAF W Gold Cup was to be her coming-out party, the springboard that would catapult her into contention for a spot on the Olympic team this summer. Instead, she’ll be watching the Olympics from her sofa.

A future that seemed limitless for Fishel entering the week is now clouded in doubt after a freak accident during the final training session for Tuesday’s Gold Cup opener against the Dominican Republic, a game the U.S. won 5-0 behind two goals from teenager Olivia Moultrie before a crowd of 3,242 on a cold, rainy night at Dignity Health Sports Park. In the first game, Mexico outshot Argentina 16-3 but had to settle for a scoreless draw.

The tournament continues Friday in Carson with the second-ranked U.S. facing Argentina and Mexico playing the Dominican Republic. And it will go on without Fishel, who tore the ACL in right knee during a short practice on a rain-slicked field Monday afternoon.

“I’m gutted for Mia, and I know the team and the entire staff is as well,” interim U.S. coach Twila Kilgore said. “She’s been very effective in camp and has worked hard to make an impact.”

Getting an opportunity to make that kind of impression with the national team has long eluded Fishel, who was called up just once and didn’t see the field under coach Vlatko Andonovski. Her call-up this month was her fourth since Andonovoski resigned and with Emma Hayes, Fishel’s coach at Chelsea, set to take over the USWNT this spring, things finally seemed to be breaking her way.

“I want to play on the U.S. national team. It’s a dream of mine,” said Fishel, whose uncles Andrew and David Bascome played internationally for Bermuda. “When I think what I’m doing on the field isn’t enough, it’s frustrating. But I continued to tell myself to stay patient, keep doing what you’re doing and it’s going to be undeniable at some point.”

Now all that’s been put on hold.

A U.S. Soccer spokesman declined to discuss details of the injury, though Kilgore said Tuesday that Fishel was hurt on a noncontact play with teammates around her. Not that those details would have mattered anyway.

The Guardian reported this week that over a recent 18-month period, more than 195 elite women players have been sidelined by ACL injuries, including Fishel’s Chelsea teammate Sam Kerr, who last month sustained her second ACL injury.

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