The United States women’s national team will cap a year of achievements in the midst of transition in Europe, an appropriate place to build the future. Their end-of-year friendlies in England on Saturday and Holland on Tuesday will be the toughest matches on the calendar since they won Olympic gold in August, although the group that made the trip doesn’t exactly resemble the one that competed in Paris over the summer. . Hayes left some, like Olympic stars Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, at home to give some rising talent a chance and try new ideas. A total of 10 players have 10 or fewer caps, while two and several more have fewer than 30 caps in their international careers, allowing Hayes to use these high-profile friendlies as another opportunity to develop younger players.
“Of course, we’ll come to win at the weekend, but that’s not my main goal. I want to win the World Cup,” Hayes said during a news conference in his native London on Monday. “I’m not going to introduce a completely experimental team. There have to be connections and relationships, but I also want to provide opportunities, so striking that balance in these two games is essential because there will come a time. I want a player who has one or two internationals to experience what it’s like to play in front of 80,000 people and it feels a little hostile and a little cold.
Here’s what to keep in mind ahead of the USWNT’s final games of the year.
Continuous expansion of the group of players.
Although the Olympics were Hayes’ initial focus when she finally took charge of her first training session in late May, she was actually hired for the purpose of refreshing the program in an increasingly competitive women’s soccer landscape. Hayes has wasted no time in beginning that mission, rewarding seven players with their debuts last month. All of those players are back this time, while two others could also play their first international matches before the year is out. The roster selections offer Hayes the opportunity to address a long-standing issue he identifies with USWNT player development.
“The difficulty at international level is that, with such limited games, you have to stay with the same group because they have to develop the style of play,” Hayes said. “I know, but opportunities don’t develop and what I realized when I took this job is that we had a lot of players who had less than 25 caps… We have to develop a broader group so that when you develop strategies to win, “You can’t always get close.”
Among the group of rising talents is 17-year-old Lily Yohannes, who officially chose to play for the USWNT earlier this month despite interest from the Netherlands, where she has lived since she was 10. Yohannes was in the process of obtaining a Dutch degree. passport, but she already made her debut (and scored her first goal) for the USWNT in June, and Hayes gave her space to make her own decision.
“You have to play around with those things a lot and nobody wants someone to push them around,” Hayes said. “I think our success at the Olympics might have helped with that decision, plus the camp she was in. I think she really enjoyed that, but the real work for that now begins because expectations start to grow on such a young talent.” and “She is young and there are still many areas for her to grow and develop physically, so we have to take care of her without the expectations we always put on her.”
Options in attack
While most of the starters during the USWNT’s gold medal-winning run are on the roster, Hayes’ decision to leave the “triple espresso” of Rodman, Smith and Swanson at home means the head coach has minutes to hit in attack, which creates a fascinating competition. in the coming months.
Lynn Williams is the only veteran among the forwards, with 20-year-old Jaedyn Shaw the next most experienced player with 19 caps. As a result, experimentation seems all but guaranteed: Emma Sears and Yazmeen Ryan have a chance to build on strong first games from a month ago, especially after Sears scored a goal and an assist in her debut. Meanwhile, Alyssa Thompson also has a chance after scoring on her return to the USWNT in October, while NWSL Rookie of the Year contender Ally Sentnor is among those who could earn her first cap.
The newness of the group could also offer another insight into Hayes’ new tactical ideas, as he has only had little time to experiment on the job so far. Until now, Hayes has relied on a three-person front line, a system also favored by his predecessor Vlatko Andonovski and which suited the “triple espresso” of the Olympics. Hayes is a pragmatist at heart and probably won’t want her team to be one-dimensional in the long run, so expect her to unleash some new lineups sooner rather than later, especially with different personnel in the mix.
Alyssa Naeher’s farewell
While much of the focus will be on the USWNT’s future, the final games of the year will also serve as a farewell to goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who announced Monday that she will retire from the national team after the game against the Netherlands.
The United States’ long-time first-choice goalkeeper will likely play a big role in the USWNT’s final games of the year before the battle to earn her role in time for the 2027 Women’s World Cup officially begins. It will be a fitting tribute to Naeher, who was the last member of the 2015 World Cup-winning team still in the USWNT player pool and is one of seven players on that roster who has not retired. Although she was Hope Solo’s backup nine years ago, she soon became the first option at the position and quietly became one of the team’s most consistent players for the better part of a decade. She was one of the few players involved in the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup victory and gold medal win at the Paris Olympics over the summer, playing a key role in both competitions.
It is currently unclear who Naeher’s successor could be, although Hayes is making sure not to limit his options. NWSL goalkeepers Casey Murphy, Jane Campbell and Aubrey Kingsbury, all with years of experience on national team pitches, stayed home for the final international break of the year, with Utah Royals’ Mandy Haught and Manchester’s Phallon Tullis United. Joyce makes the trip in his place. Haught earned her first cap last month, while Tullis-Joyce is one of two players who could debut next week, giving Hayes plenty to think about as she begins to figure out who the USWNT’s next starting goalkeeper will be. .
