USWNT: If not win-win, SheBelieves Cup was lose-win

The 10th SheBelieves Cup could hardly have gone better for Emma Hayes and the U.S. women’s national team. Yeah, sure, beating Japan in the de facto final would have been cool — “We want to win,” Hayes says (duh!) — but beside the point. Context is everything, all the time, and now is the season for victories of other sorts.

Hayes is on a mission, with the next Women’s World Cup not quite two and half years away, to build a future. One leading to Brazil 2027, sure, but beyond that, perpetually, one in which the U.S. continues to prosper — a task not so simple — amid the rising powers of Europe, Asia and Latin America and within an increasingly sophisticated landscape.

She’s modernizing the U.S. program, whether by design or impact, at a critical juncture in the international women’s game’s evolution. The challenges presented by Spain and England, longtime rival Brazil and so forth, are many. Tomorrow means more than today. And it’s all about context.

The past week or so has been about something more than the score and is seen internally, regardless of what the national team ultimately reaps from the exercise, as a big step forward in U.S. Soccer’s increasing involvement in developing the talent that’s central to all of it. If not win-win, SheBelieves was lose-win.

“I’m focused on the process, and right now in our journey it’s important that we provide the opportunities to less-experienced players and do it in a tournament setting,” said Hayes, a charismatic, 48-year-old Londoner whose early coaching experiences in the U.S. mesh with English and European sensibilities. “As long as we’re progressing, then that’s what our aims are, and our focus is to stay focused on that and not just solely look at the results column. That’s not our only indicator of success.”

The twin January senior and “futures” camps in Florida and work surrounding the three SheBelieves games — wins over Colombia in Houston and Australia in suburban Phoenix before Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to Japan at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium — kick off a year in which the emphasis is assessing talent, slotting it into its best, most appropriate developmental platforms, and then providing experience as merited against top-flight opposition.

SheBelieves showcased at least two tantalizing prospects — Utah Royals striker Ally Sentnor and 17-year-old Ajax midfield phenom Lily Yohannes — while providing first senior caps to four players and, Sentnor and Yohannes among them, first starts to five. The lessons came fast, and not always pretty, as Japan made certain. That’s a good thing.

“We need to be bold and we need to take the necessary steps, knowing that I might be putting players in situations that might not have the necessary experience just yet,” Hayes said. “Sometimes you might have to go through that hard pain first before we come out the other side.”

‘Doing things ass-backwards’

Hayes was hired in November 2023, watched from afar while completing her final season as Chelsea manager, then arrived last May for the lead-up to gold at the Paris Olympics. Starting at the top is nice. The real work began immediately afterward.

“I always refer to it as doing things ass-backwards,” said Hayes, a former Arsenal midfielder (yet a Tottenham fan) who won seven league titles and 14 major domestic trophies in a dozen years at Chelsea. “You know, we have 75 days together and then we had an Olympics, and then I had to do the job of developing a strategy and building a playing pool beyond sort of a select group of players.”

Hayes possessed a strong “select group” to start: 14 Olympians played in SheBelieves; five of the most essential were missing through injury. She’s had plenty to sift through: rising talents uncovered during preparation for Paris, known quantities within the youth teams, emerging standouts in the National Women’s Soccer League and abroad. She estimates she’s been “exposed to somewhere upward of 60-70 players,” what she calls “a fair look on every player within the ecosystem that I think is immediately eligible for the WNT.”

She was struck by what she saw.

“There’s a clear realization that there’s a lot of players that are underdeveloped at the senior international level,” she said before the tournament began. “Either the programming hasn’t been there at the under-23 level, so there’s been some missing years, or a lot of those players might not have had the level of exposures or experiences that previous generations had or counterparts from other nations [have].

“We might have many players that [are] top prospects but not getting a lot of minutes in NWSL. We’ve really, really got to close those gaps in the next 12 months. And that gap-closing will be done in a combination of ways. Some we dripped-fed into the senior national team. But I want to be really clear that anyone playing for the seniors, you’ve got to be performing consistently at the highest level.”

What to do with everyone else? Reignite the U-23 program. An April camp, in tandem with the senior team’s gathering for games friendlies against Brazil April 5 in Los Angeles and April 8 in San Jose, will kick off the project.

“So often we’re always preparing for today instead of, look, I have to think for one year’s time, two years’ time, three years’ time. Always. And it’s actually no different in any environment,” Hayes said. “There’s no point talking about the development of a program without offering opportunities for people to do it. But that comes, of course, with the risk and, of course, it won’t look polished in its entirely. But I trust the process.

“I’ve been a coach for a long, long time to know that doing it this way will give us a much better chance down the road to compete at the top end when I know exactly what the top nations in the world are doing.”

U.S. Soccer’s programming for under-23 players and younger, she said, “has been about 50 percent of the programming for, say, Germany and England and Spain. We need to close this gap to make sure that this program can stay at the top end.”

Hayes has done her best so far. She has given first caps to 15 players since taking the reins from assistant/interim coach Twila Kilgore ahead of Olympic preparations last spring, and she’s constantly assessing players’ needs and the best forum to address those needs. The measure is “a combination of things,” and SheBelieves played an integral role in the process.

“Seeing players perform in January [camp] is one thing,” Hayes said. “That might be in how they apply technology information and how quickly they can adapt that to their games, whether that’s in possession or out of possession. Some players might be fast to learn with those things. That’s one environment. The next is to see what it looks like in a game, when you’ve got all the stimulus and the pressure of a crowd, a top opponent, all of those things.”

The opportunity, she said, “will either tell us that they’re ready now [for the senior team] or they’re ready later.” Those ready proceed. For those needing more time, it’s the U-23s.

“I’ve made it clear to the players [that] representing this crest at any age group is significant. So the 23s program isn’t by any means a relegation to something. Far from it. It’s a development pathway that we feel has been absent for [graduates from the under-20 team that are] not quite ready for the seniors.”

‘I genuinely believe we’re going in the right direction’

Ten of the 23 players on the U.S. SheBelieves roster had fewer than five caps. Another had eight. The game with Japan, sporting a largely first-choice roster, was particularly telling.

The numbers — 2-1 scoreline, 10-9 Japan advantage on shots, 5-4 for the U.S. for shots on frame, similar possession percentages (50.3 to 49.7) — suggest the game was relatively even. Not so. Japan’s pressure often bothered the Yanks, its class on the ball and connectivity opened repeated roads into the attacking third, and once Toko Kaga made it 2-1 five minutes into the second half — depositing the left-post rebound after Houston Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell leapt to parry a free kick from Yui Hasegawa (“probably the best pivot in the world,” Hayes noted) — the result never really seemed in doubt.

That’s not a bad thing. Hayes said so beforehand.

“It’s just the perfect game. It’s just what you want,” she said. “The quality of their play is so, so high. I think that they’re one of the top, top, top, top teams in the world. This is the perfect game for where we are at, to learn a lot about ourselves, because I am certain we will have to suffer. …

“When you’re playing against teams that are waiting for you to press, waiting for you to jump out of areas so they can increase their own pass sequencing, you have to learn to resist in the wrong moments. That takes a lot of discipline and a lot of tactical understanding, of which we haven’t been doing that with this group for very long. So if you make the spaces between you, they will destroy us in terms of their style of play. It’s very taxing on the brain. Dealing with overloads in different situations — Japan presents those threats — you have to keep this muscle extremely fresh.”

Hayes picked up plenty of data through the tournament.

Houston Dash forward Yazmeen Ryan impressed in three stints and played key roles in both first-game goals. Washington Spirit center back Tara McKeown also played in all three games, finding confidence after a tough start in her debut against Colombia and feeding the second goal in a 2-0 triumph.

Previously uncapped forward Michelle Cooper had a goal in her second of two appearances off the bench, and midfielder Claire Hutton, her Kansas City Current teammate and a fellow debutant, demonstrated passing range and contributed to both U.S. strikes in the 2-1 decision against the Aussies. Angel City FC fullback Gisele Thompson, just 19, got her first cap off the bench in the opener, then stepped into the XI alongside sister Alyssa Thompson.

Orlando Pride center back Emily Sams fared well in the second game. So did Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears. Three goalkeepers — Houston’s Jane Campbell (first and third games), Utah’s Mandy McGlynn (the other game) and Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce (invited to train) — made their cases in early bids to succeed Alyssa Naeher.

Not every challenge was met. Some fared better than others, all have far to go.

“It’s important for us to be reflective, that we are where we are in our stage of development and not to compare ourselves to anyone else,” Hayes said. “Just go through the thorough processes that we’ll do to make sure that we are on track for the things we want to achieve and build the confidence to keep doing what we’re doing. Because I genuinely believe we’re going in the right direction.”

Sentnor and Yohannes were the standouts.

Sentnor, 21, arrived with 10 minutes’ top-tier experience on the Yanks’ late-fall trek last year to England and Netherlands, and showed why she’s U.S. Soccer’s reigning young player of the year. She was electric in attack, combining with teammates, beating defenders on the dribble, dueling with foes and scoring twice: ripping a sizzler to the upper-right corner from McKeown’s pass in the opener — goal of the tournament — and then slipping past the backline to finish Catarina Macario‘s through ball to answer Japan’s first goal.

“Ally’s demonstrated in her rise through the youth national teams and in her first pro year that she’s got qualities that can decide a game,” Hayes said at tournament’s finish. “She certainly finishes the very minimal chances she might get. That’s what top players possess, and I think she’s got that. I think it will build her confidence to have had this tournament and been given a couple of starts.”

‘Listen, I think it’s really early on’

Yohannes, who was born in Springfield, Va., and moved to Amsterdam at 10, comes from a different place than the other relative newcomers. She’s something of a cause célèbre — to Hayes’ dismay — a supremely gifted central midfielder whose commitment last year to the U.S. rather than Netherlands caused a stir along both countries’ women’s soccer landscapes. Her exquisite time with the ball against Colombia and in a tougher climate in the Japan game won’t dull that.

Yohannes sees the game at an advanced level — she came through Ajax’s system, went pro at 15 — and owns a cultured right foot. Her perfectly weighted ball near the right byline that Ryan fed into the goalmouth for Macario’s goal in the first game — her first in international play in nearly three years — was pure art.

Hayes liked the display, while noting Sam Coffey‘s and Lindsey Heaps‘ work to enable it, but cautioned against the hype.

“Yes, maybe Lily plays beyond her years at times,” she said after the Colombia win. “But she’s also in season in Europe, and it showed. There will be tougher tests, and I think it was really good for her to [have] shown the development she’s made in the last 12 months. There’s still a lot of things she has to work with in her game, but she’s very hungry to learn, to improve, and [Ajax is] a great place to do that. She’s got her feet on the ground. She’s really switched on and understands the importance of doing everything for the team, and for that I really admire her. …

“I think inevitably we’re talking about [what a year ago was] a 16-year-old who now has another 12 months under her belt playing in European competition. She’s coming from a well-established, extremely structured 4-3-3 environment, playing the Ajax way, and I think she’s adding the physicality to her performance.

“Her qualities on the ball were unquestionable. I’m really pleased with the progress that she’s making defensively, but, listen, I think it’s really early on, and I don’t think we should get carried away with it. I think she’s someone who deserves to develop without putting too much focus and attention on it.”

Who ends up where come April will be determined through “really thorough processes” designed to eliminate emotional bias. Deeper assessment begins now.

“We take the time,” Hayes said. “There’s multiple people involved with that, including [U.S. Soccer director of women’s youth development and U-20 coach] Tracey Kevins to the technical team. We’ll work through in the coming weeks what we think the best progression paths will be for each and every player. I feel like we’re in a solid place in terms of that journey, and I think by taking the risks we take now, it’s the right decision for the program.”

There’s ample time to experiment, to provide first-team minutes to younger or less internationally primed players, to get them up to speed on how Hayes wants her team to play and the tactical variations within that, and to open pathways that can serve the senior team for, well, ever.

“I always go back to what our objectives were in the first place,” Hayes said when asked after the Japan defeat about balancing progress with results. “That was to deepen our player pool with opportunities in high-pressured situations against top opponents, and that’s what tonight, especially, was about. …

“I think we look through the lens of our objectives and say we certainly looked at our players in this setting, and we’ve definitely got a better understanding of where they are within this journey.”

Hayes likens her responsibilities to those of a mason.

“My job is to, like, put the framework in place, right?” she said. “I want the bricks and the mortar to be solid across however many players come into our interactions. In our world, it’s players understanding what the principles of play are for us at the U.S. women’s national team. Which I think the last six months has been about really drilling that [on a] basic level. I think we’re getting probably close to about 40-plus players understanding that at a level where we can go to the next step. That is where we are right now.”

This coming phase is “how do we coach that next layer of detail in whatever capacity that might be?” It’s a time to “further define our identity.” There are camps slated for May and June, too.

“We’ve been having a lot of really good technical calls this month in and around what our tactical objectives will be, I’d say, up until July …,” she said. “We are still in a process, in a period of development, and one [that] will still be a little bit up and down, but I think we can be even more laser focused in this block, knowing we do have the bricks and mortars in place. Now we’ve got to put a bit of furniture in the house.”

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