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street. PAUL, Minn. – Emma Hayes, coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, is still learning some American sports lingo in her first weeks on the job.
On Tuesday, under a steady rain at Allianz Field that reminded the Briton of home, Hayes implored her team to eliminate a South Korean team that rarely threatened the Americans but was only one goal down at that point.
“I want you to put the pedal to the metal,” Hayes recalled telling the team. “And (assistant coach Dennis Reedy) told me, ‘Never say that again!’”
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As embarrassing as it was, it worked. The USWNT scored two more goals – including the first goal of 16-year-old midfielder Lilly Johannes in her debut – to win 3-0.
Now comes a tough time for Hayes, to borrow another uniquely American sports phrase. After two matches and just over a week of training, she must select her 18-man Olympic squad in the coming weeks. The performance of some players on Tuesday made the task more difficult.
Johannes has climbed onto that list after making an immediate impact with her long-awaited debut. Her late goal punctuated 20 minutes of strong distribution in midfield, including a pass to Trinity Rodman moments before that led to Rodman hitting the crossbar.
But the midfield was already crowded even before Johannes saw the field. The team’s starting trio of Corbyn Albert, Rose Lavelle and captain Lindsay Horan helped take control of the game against a South Korean side who once again sat in a low block of five defenders. Hayes praised Horan throughout this camp as a team leader. Lavelle is a well-known entity who received his 100th cap hit on Tuesday. She is arguably the most creative player on the team.
Albert is much newer to the mix, but the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder has quickly proven he can compete at this level.
On Tuesday, Albert and Horan worked together to set the pace of the match, patiently waiting for the right moments to pull South Korea out of their defensive shape. Things weren’t always perfect, but they were effective in the right moments. Above all, he was patient.
“I think the important thing for us is to be more patient on both ends of the ball, not just going forward every time,” Lavelle said. “I think it’s just about being patient with our movements, being patient with our movements from side to side with the ball, finding different ways to beat their strikers, beat the midfield and get through them.”
Hayes made nine changes to the lineup that defeated South Korea 4-0 three days ago in Colorado. The goal is to give new players a chance to process the “overload” information staff has thrown at them throughout the week and demonstrate their ability to apply it in a game environment, Hayes said Monday.
Among those who ostensibly showed up in the bubble to make Hayes’ Olympic roster, Albert did so as well as everyone else on Tuesday.
However, there is context to her success on the field. Albert’s previous social media activity – which came to light in March – appeared to support anti-LGBTQIA+ content and highlight the injury of former USA winger Megan Rapinoe. Albert apologized, and the team had internal discussions in April camp that were not shared publicly. Albert remained on that list and was called up again for this camp.
Hayes made clear comments Saturday that she expects a tolerant environment in the locker room, and her words about players needing to feel supported when they take the field came on the heels of Albert being booed by the home crowd in Colorado on Saturday.
“I want everyone to be patient,” Hayes said Saturday. “There are a lot of young players. On the field, they are learning, but they want to give everything for their shirt, and they want to give everything for their country. Off the field, some make mistakes, others have to learn. My job as a coach is to help teach them and guide them.” “.
In pure footballing terms – which is undoubtedly an oversimplification – Hayes and her staff appear to rate the versatile Albert, and the midfielder’s performance on Tuesday will have reaffirmed that. How Albert, Johannes and others are likely to fit into the Olympic roster is the mental gymnastics that will occupy Hayes in the coming weeks. Horan and Lavelle are veterans who have won World Cup titles. Defensive midfielder Sam Coffey has become a regular starter, including alongside Albert in the team’s Concacaf W Gold Cup win earlier this year, and is the best pure defensive midfielder in the group.
Then there are questions about where versatile forwards Catarina Macario and Jaden Shaw will play. Macario started as the USWNT’s No. 10 on Saturday, while Shaw started in a hybrid winger role on Tuesday. Shaw struggled to find her match in the first half before coming back to life in the second, including when she was moved into the No. 10 role. This confirms the trend: Shaw is clearly best suited to the No. 10 role, but the same could be said for many Both talented players.
Defensively, Hayes got further confirmation on Tuesday that Jenna Nijsönger is the real deal as a left-footed left-back who can press high up front. Nighswonger assisted on the opening goal – scored by Crystal Dunne, who started as a striker for the team for the first time in nearly seven years. Nighswonger was attractive on the ball and was one of only two players, along with Horan, to start both matches against South Korea.
Left centre-back Sam Stapp has earned her first cap. Stapp’s continued play in the National Women’s Soccer League seemed like it would warrant a long-term call-up, but that didn’t happen until last camp. She stepped into that role seamlessly on Tuesday, nearly scoring on a set piece in the first half.
“I think it was worth it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Stapp said of the long wait for her first international cap.
Hayes does not lack talent to choose from. I’ve talked a lot about the need for a balance between this rising group of young stars and the veteran players who got the team to where it is now.
That includes striker Alex Morgan, who started in the No. 9 role on Tuesday and earned Hayes praise for working hard despite limited touches against the South Korea’s low block. Morgan’s turnover sparked the transition play that led to Dunn’s early goal.
A flurry of USWNT substitutions at the hour mark opened up the match. It was easy to see the connection between Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, even though they all played hard against a tiring South Korean defence.
An exhausted Hayes appeared to lose her voice after Tuesday’s game. She said she was gone for 10 straight months, a reference to how she spent the entire European season with Chelsea before joining the USWNT just days after that job ended in May. She said she would meet with her staff on Wednesday morning, and then needed the rest of the week to rest before heading to the US Soccer Federation headquarters in Chicago to plan the road to the Olympics.
“(The group) is not afraid to give up the things we have to give up,” Hayes said Tuesday to a chorus of praise for the players. “Bold enough, brave enough to want whatever it takes to improve. I admired them so much as people.”
Hayes must now choose which of these people she will invite to go to the 2024 Olympics and step on the gas pedal. The Paris Games start next month.
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