In January, Emma Hayes called in 50 players to train with the USWNT. Twenty-six were with the senior national team, and the rest were part of a Futures camp, which was meant to develop and scout young prospects. It was all part of Hayes’s mission to revamp the American women’s soccer system at all levels. Since then, she’s laid out a far-reaching plan that details how she hopes to push the American soccer world to reframe its goals from matching the men’s game to doing instead whatever is best for female players specifically. The effects of that blueprint, or “The WNT Way” as she calls it, will only be evident years down the line. But where Hayes does have total control, and where results are more prompt, is with the senior national team. Most immediately, she would have to select a 23-player roster for the SheBelieves Cup.
U.S. Soccer created the poorly named tournament in 2016 as an alternative to the Algarve Cup. It’s not a tournament that means much on its face, other than being a guaranteed three games against strong opposition at a regular lull in the international soccer calendar. With more than two years to go before the next major tournament, this SheBelieves Cup provided a good opportunity for the USWNT to tinker with its roster and tactics.
Hayes’s tournament roster demonstrated her commitment to integrating standouts from the Futures camp into the senior squad. It also only featured two goalies, a curious choice for a team looking to replace Alyssa “Saved Our Asses Too Many Times To Count” Naeher. With no Mal Swanson, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson (née Smith), Rose Lavelle, or Naomi Girma—all out due to injury or personal reasons—less-established players had the space to make their case for a spot in the squad.
The USWNT’s first game, against Colombia, was giddying. The starting lineup was chock-full of youngsters, with seven players having fewer than 20 international caps under their belt, including five who had fewer than 10. The inexperienced group was an audacious bet by Hayes, who is known for bold coaching decisions such as this. If this combination of players worked against the formidable Colombians, the USWNT would appear to be in good shape.
The U.S. dominated the game—an impressive thing to do against a team that can run out the likes of Catalina Usme, Leicy Santos, Linda Caicedo, and Mayra Ramírez. Indeed, several American players pulled off performances worthy of blogs of their own. Debutante Tara McKeown staved off Colombia’s attacking threats and made her own dynamic moves for the U.S. offense. Ally Sentnor was dynamite in the midfield, her screamer in the 60th minute—a signature shot for her—the cherry on top of an already fantastic game. And substitute Michelle Cooper made the most of her half-hour on the pitch with an energetic, defensively sound performance.
Perhaps the sweetest part of the win was Catarina Macario’s return to the USWNT after a grueling battle back from an ACL tear in 2022. Originally called up to the 2024 Olympics roster, knee irritation forced the crafty maverick to give up her spot in that tournament. Her forceful goal in the 33rd minute of this game cemented her return to the squad of which she’s been deemed a future mainstay for years. As the game headed into halftime, I was happily humming “The Cat Came Back.”
Macario’s goal had two notable architects. Yazmeen Ryan made the immediate assist, the highlight of a strong showing as she continued to prove her mettle on the wing. But the best piece of the play was Lily Yohannes’s hockey assist. The 17-year-old phenom, who had played all of 19 minutes for the national team prior to this tournament, made a piercing pass to Ryan that belied her inexperience. The perfectly timed ball lofted above the Colombian defenders and fell at the feet of an onrushing Ryan. Throughout the match, Yohannes was the calm visionary we know her to be. Imagining her passes going to the Triple Espresso is almost too sweet a thing to think of.
The defense was the team’s shakiest point, which is perhaps fitting for a line that consisted of one converted attacker (McKeown) and two players who often play in midfield (Emily Sonnett and Jenna Nighswonger). Still, Colombia’s attacks were toothless enough for the Yanks to come away with a win.
The Americans’ second game made clear that Hayes was serious about her desire to give as many players as possible a shot. She started an entirely different slate of players, right down to the goalie. USWNT observers have long boasted that the country could field two women’s national teams that could win a world championship—now that theory was put to the test. The answer? Maybe.
The U.S. started strong against Australia, with Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams) scoring a tap-in on an assist from Jaedyn Shaw before the first minute had gone by. Shaw, playing at her favored No. 10 position, was the star of the night. She continues to make the case that she deserves to be at the top of the team list, and in the midfield rather than the forward line. In addition, Emma Sears’s efforts dribbling in from the wing played a big role in the move—she was another standout from the match.
Early on, Gisele and Alyssa Thompson were a delight to watch as well. Gisele, just 19 years old, impressed at right back during her first start, limiting veteran winger Caitlin Foord's chances and getting forward effectively when she could. Her older sister Alyssa played on the same right flank and was similarly dynamic.
The honeymoon for Hayes’s mishmash lineup didn’t last long. The back end of the first half slogged on with players making sloppy turnovers in critical areas, which precluded long passing sequences from forming. The team was disconnected and tired, and couldn’t seem to step up in response to Australia’s growing confidence.
The Matildas started the second half where they left off: on the front foot. Their pressure produced an error from keeper Mandy McGlynn, who was lucky to get away without conceding. Her night improved from there; she made some solid saves, and knew when to slow things down to help her teammates gain composure.
Perhaps demonstrating the relative weakness of Hayes’s starting XI, things picked up significantly with the introduction of several subs around the 65th minute. Reward came quickly when 19-year-old Claire Hutton, who had done well to connect her passes in her first cap, played an insightful ball through to substitute Sentnor, who then laid it to fellow sub Cooper. Cooper smashed it home for her first international goal.
The goal enlivened the U.S., but Australia halved the Americans' two-goal lead thanks to some terrible defending. Kyra Cooney-Cross hit a soaring long ball up to Hayley Raso, who had acres to turn in near the goal line. Her quick cross to a charging Michelle Heyman was met with no protest from a stumbling U.S. defense. Heyman cleanly headed it in for Australia’s first goal of the tournament. The U.S. were caught in transition, a common enough reason for a back line to break down, but the amount of space each Aussie had on this play was too glaring to excuse.
Overall, the second game saw some good moments from the U.S., but it was all painfully effortful—nothing like the commanding win against Colombia just a few days prior. We snuck past Australia by the skin of our teeth. Against Japan, that would not be enough.
Japan had been off to a roaring start to the tournament, steamrolling Australia and Colombia in their first two games. Under new head coach Nils Nielsen, Nadeshiko has featured the technical prowess they’re known for, with an added fierce physicality. To her credit, Hayes knew she couldn’t roll out a second-best lineup in this cup-deciding game, so she returned to almost all of the starters from the Colombia match. The only change from that lineup was Crystal Dunn replacing Nighswonger at left back.
As they had done to each of their previous foes, Japan scored early. A sad attempt to play out from the back by the U.S. led to a Japanese throw-in deep in American territory. Yui Hasegawa sent a probing pass towards the net, and a breakdown of communication between Campbell and Sonnett resulted in both of them on the ground while Yuka Momiki easily gathered the ball and scored.
From then on, the U.S. frantically searched for an equalizer. If Japan was playing like 11 arms of the same body, the U.S. was playing like 11 strangers. Japan’s white jerseys swarmed the American popsicle-looking kits wherever the ball went. Every possession felt like a hockey power play for Japan.
Temporary relief from that particular hell came in the 14th minute. Macario got free between Japan’s midfield and defense and sent a leading pass to an oncoming Sentnor. Cutting inside, the Utah Royals forward fired a shot past the reach of goalie Ayaka Yamashita. The goal was enough to settle American nerves for a bit.
Ryan, Yohannes, and Dunn had led the charge to connect passes and keep composure after the U.S. went down, and all three went on to have strong showings. One of the best chances of the night came from a daring run from Ryan during first-half stoppage time; Macario put her ensuing shot just beyond the post. Yohannes, unfortunately, barely received the ball—such was the strength of Japan’s midfield—but when she did she reliably made astute passes.
Campbell recovered from her early snafu and made several critical stops for her side. She was also eager to spring the offense, quickly releasing the ball when she received it. The defense in front of her, however, couldn't say the same. The line was disconnected all game, barely able to string together lateral passes amongst each other let alone progressive passes to start the attack. Even stalwart Emily Fox looked worn out by Japan’s relentlessness.
In the second half, Japan continued to suffocate just about every area of the pitch. Nadeshiko played like they wanted it more, and our haphazard defense and tired midfield couldn’t muster the energy to make many convincing attempts to counter them. Their winning goal came quickly. In the 50th minute, Hasegawa took a masterful free kick that forced Campbell into a leaping save. Toko Koga was first to reach the rebound and she secured the goal, and with it the title.
Biyendolo and Alyssa Thompson came on after the go-ahead goal to stretch Japan’s back line, but neither player made much of an impact; the service they would have needed to do so just wasn’t there. On the brink of stoppage time, a fantastic chance from substitute Tierna Davidson was tipped over the bar for a corner kick—this was one of the few glimpses of hope for the U.S. side as the clock wound down. When the whistle blew and the first loss of Hayes’s tenure was cemented, a deserving Japan team lifted the tournament trophy.
In all, the tournament was decidedly mixed for the Americans. Some newer players made resounding cases for their talent—especially Sentnor, Ryan, Yohannes, and Hutton. McKeown, Cooper, Sears, and Gisele Thompson showed tremendous potential. Campbell played admirably in net, but I expect the starting goalkeeper spot to remain an open competition for a while longer. What worries me about the team is not Hayes’s experimentation with new faces, but some of the players she has chosen to keep as mainstays.
Take, for instance, Lindsey Heaps (née Horan). No matter who she plays with, she is rarely the most effective player in the midfield. Putting her role as captain aside, it seems like the best she offers on the pitch is a propensity to draw fouls and compete for headers. I’m not sure that's enough of a return from a position with so much talent waiting in the wings. And Korbin Albert, who still hasn’t done enough to publicly address her bigoted social media activity, hasn’t performed well enough to justify her continued presence on this team. Why Hayes still favors Albert is an open, and concerning, question.
If Hayes was all-in on testing players and lineups, why didn’t she try some new combinations against Japan? I would have loved to see Yohannes and Shaw, who respectively orchestrated the first games of the tournament, in the midfield together. It's a young pairing, to be sure, but isn’t now the time to develop relationships such as those? Our midfield pool is bursting with potential. Hal Hershfelt, Croix Bethune, Sam Coffey, Hutton, Macario, and of course Lavelle have all proven they have the vision, grit, and skill to be a part of a successful national team midfield. It’s time Hayes stopped trying to build around players whose play has been lagging for too long to excuse as a fluke.
The team’s defense is in desperate need of attention as well. Without Girma, the line lacked cohesion and an attacking orientation. The U.S. has to find a real plan for the times when Girma is unavailable. At this point, Davidson appears best suited to play alongside Girma, with Emily Sams a very capable option as well. Fox and Dunn are each excellent on the flanks, but in the game against Japan, when the defense could barely muster any forward movement, explosive players like Carson Pickett or Casey Kreuger would have been a godsend. But another Kreuger call-up seems to be out of the question—she recently told the Hey Spirits podcast that Hayes indicated she likely won’t be invited back to join the national team. Time will tell on Pickett, but considering she wasn’t invited to January camp, it seems like she’s not in contention either.
With more than two years before the next World Cup, now is the time for Hayes's USWNT to try new things, make mistakes, and grow. If, and only if, she adjusts her rosters and strategies accordingly, I might start to believe what SheBelieves.
