At Louisville, center back Naomi Girma stole the show as the U.S. women's national team closed out the national championship with its third win. But the real story of that October camp, in addition to the celebratory nature of the team's Olympic gold medal tour, was the sheer amount of evaluation that head coach Emma Hayes managed.
“I got out of it what I wanted to get out of it,” Hayes said Wednesday. “We had a lot of debutants and it was great for everyone who is still playing in the NWSL to manage their time (and) give us the opportunity to develop some of the things that we set as goals for ourselves on the training pitch. He gave it to me.”
Since taking over the position in May, Hayes has stood by everything she has said, especially about the importance of club format, dating back to her first media appearance in New York City this spring. Her hands were tied a bit during this period, as she needed to call up all healthy members of the team to compete in the Olympics in France in the summer for the Olympic celebrations, but the remaining roster spots made the most of it. She also took full advantage of rotation, not only in her selection of starting lineups and substitutes, but also in her 23-player game-day roster.
All seven uncapped players on the roster earned their first USWNT minutes, including additions mid-camp.
Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams and Washington Spirit midfielder Hal Hirschfeld were in France as substitutes but did not play in the game. Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears made an immediate impression in her debut, becoming the fourth player in program history to record a goal and an assist in her first cap. Bay FC defender Alyssa Maronson recorded her first assist in her debut as Girma's provider against Argentina on Wednesday. Paris Saint-Germain's Eva Gaetino, Utah Royals' Mandy Haught and Gotham FC's Yazmeen Ryan round out the new additions.
3 – Three different #USWNT It will be the first time that players (Eva Gaetino, Mandy Haught and Alyssa Maronson) will make their national team debuts in the same game since March 7, 2001, when all four of them started against Italy. Newcomer. pic.twitter.com/mzv4oVFFUL
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) October 30, 2024
There were also important returns. Alyssa Thompson returned to the national team after being left out of the Olympic squad and finally scored her first international goal, while Ashley Sanchez and Hayley Mace earned their minutes against Argentina.
It's hard to agree with Hayes' approach to the club's form after a successful window, as she hit all her goals and scored three wins with multiple goals. What's more, she watched her team finally get a goal after forcing a comeback against Iceland in Nashville on Sunday. This was the first time the USWNT was behind in a game coached by Hayes.
The challenge now is to understand how important these matches actually are in the long run. The friendly was fun to watch, and while I doubt anyone would complain about Girma's brace, the emphasis on rotation and evaluation made it feel like one of the first pieces of a larger puzzle . It's a work that won't be completed for a few more years.
The second half of 2024 generally felt like a period of recovery and big-picture thinking at first-team level.
The next and final period of the year, between late November and early December, will see two of Europe's most high-profile opponents on the road, but friendly matches against England and the Netherlands are unusual from this time of year. It is highly likely that The higher the name recognition of the opponent, the higher the stakes, but it's reasonable to expect Hayes to once again utilize all the depth of the roster with an eye on evaluation and growth.
The last home game of the year did not disappoint! ⚡
A packed stadium, three international debuts and two goals from the extraordinary centre-back Naomi Girma! #USWNT × @JimBeam pic.twitter.com/ab7bcLUX8u
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 31, 2024
Hayes has already shown he's not afraid of big moments, prioritizing leveraging the depth of his roster to take the likes of Jadyn Shaw and Croix Bethune to their first major tournaments this summer. There is. There is no doubt that the starting XI for the game against England on November 30th will be the strongest, but Hayes will ensure that the players who will be crucial to the team's success in the next two or three years experience an environment like Wembley Stadium. There's another chance.
The real sign of things to come will be January's Futures Camp, which Hayes has promised to run alongside a full senior team camp in Los Angeles. The USWNT hasn't held a Talent Identity Camp since 2019, shortly after Vlatko Andonovski took over, but it was the only one held during his four-year tenure.
Hayes has promised to cast a wide net, especially after his under-20 and under-17 teams reached the semi-finals of this year's World Cup. But despite all the angst over the past few years about generational change, the runway is finally completely clean.
The Olympics most clearly symbolized the end of an era for the USWNT, with Alex Morgan not making the roster. This was the sudden retirement of a player who transcended generations, but it was also a testament to her contribution to building the team.
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There are more options than ever before for any position. Creating a US directory seems more difficult than before, but doing so is more clearly tied to form and therefore more transparent than ever. Hayes finally completely reversed the “emergency surgery” policy she came up with and led her team to Olympic gold, and as promised, a bigger effort is now underway.
Those three games were a good start, but it was still just the beginning.
The first 270 minutes of the cycle leading up to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and the Olympics in Los Angeles, home a year later, are in the bag. There is more to come.
(Top photo: Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)
