US soccer star Sydney Leroux returns to pre-season training at SIX months pregnant

Orlando returned to pre-season training this week and Leroux was among the players present - despite being pregnant. [Courtesy]

US Women's star Sydney Leroux has been hailed an "inspiration" after returning to training almost six months pregnant.

Leroux, 28, currently plies her trade with Orlando Pride in the NWSL.

She is the wife of former Norwich youngster Dom Dwyer and the couple have one child together, son Cassius.

Orlando returned to pre-season training this week and Leroux was among the players present - despite being pregnant.

"I didn’t think I’d be starting off preseason 5.5 months pregnant but here we are," she posted on social media.

Leroux's followers branded her a "trooper" while another posted: "you are so strong and powerful."

Asked if she had been medically cleared to train, she told her followers: "I just do non-contact stuff. Ball work. Getting touches in.

"I don’t put myself in situations where the ball can ricochet or I can get hit. No high intensity running and I listen to my OB (who knows more than people on twitter telling me what I shouldn’t be doing with MY body."

Leroux, who plays as a striker, has also won over 75 caps for the US national team and won gold at the London Olympics in 2012. [Courtesy]

Her second child is expected on July 4, a year after she fell pregnant before suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage.

Leroux missed a month of last season with an unspecified illness before later confirming the devastating news.

"I was naive to the pain of what this felt like. There was a moment when I was on bed rest where I wondered if the emotional pain could kill me," she said in October 2018.

"There was a sense of shame and embarrassment that came with losing a baby. Except the statistic of losing a baby is 1 in 4. Which means there are so many of us going about our day trying to bury our grief and pain."

Leroux, who plays as a striker, has also won over 75 caps for the US national team and won gold at the London Olympics in 2012.

She was also part of the side that won the Women's World Cup in 2015.

Leroux joined Orlando in February last year as the first round draft pick before signing a contract.