The Emma Hayes era of the U.S. women’s national team got off to a fairy-tale start this summer, when the Americans returned to the top of the podium in Paris for the program’s fifth Olympic gold medal. Now comes Hayes’ primary assignment.
She was hired as head coach to win the 2027 World Cup. That is why U.S. Soccer agreed to let her finish the European season with Chelsea before joining the USWNT less than two months before the Olympics.
With an Olympic gold medal in hand, Hayes is now empowered to make drastic changes as she sees fit for the program’s future. Although winning gold suggests the USWNT is in a good place, three years is a lot of time, and Hayes can’t rest on her laurels — every decision she makes will be about the 2027 World Cup.
As the USWNT embarks on its first games since the Olympics, including a friendly against Iceland on Thursday, it is Hayes’ first chance to find answers to the questions plaguing the team ahead of the World Cup in three years’ time. So, what are those questions? We dig into the biggest ones as the USWNT shifts from celebrating their gold medal to long-term rebuilding.
Striking balance of youth vs. veterans
There is a clear core of players who will make up the 2027 World Cup squad, including the dynamic front three of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, who will be 25, 26, and 29, respectively, when that tournament starts. Defender Naomi Girma will be 27 — Hayes has already called Girma “the best defender I’ve ever seen” and has appointed the center-back as captain at various points of matches.
Those players were already cornerstones of the USWNT’s Olympic gold-medal run — but what about the dozens of young, inexperienced players who could be major contributors come 2027?
This is a macro question that will guide every small decision Hayes makes. Hayes has already shown how liberal she plans to be with trialing new players in the USWNT environment. She requested to expand the team’s current training roster by three, to 26 players, and used the additional slots to name three first-time call-ups — two of whom were objectively off the national team radar to most of the public as they have yet to fully establish themselves in the NWSL.
Hayes strongly suggested that she would have called up even more new players if she wasn’t bound by the restrictions of the USWNT’s collective bargaining agreement, which defines this window as a victory tour and requires all available players from the Olympic roster to be recalled.
“I say it privately more than I do publicly: The U.S. could quite easily put two teams out,” Hayes said. “There’s always, always going to be players that are missing. And there are players that are outside of this roster that equally deserve to be in.”
A futures camp in January will allow a couple of dozen more players to compare themselves to the senior team players and impress Hayes. That camp will be a mix of players mostly 23 and under, possibly with an older player whose NWSL form warrants evaluation.
The U-20 USWNT that just finished third at the World Cup featured eight NWSL players, including Kansas City Current midfielder Claire Hutton and Utah Royals forward Ally Sentnor, arguably the readiest for the senior team right now. U-20 players were left out of this senior-team camp to allow them to rest.
The Catch-22 of giving younger players more looks is that incumbent players will be bumped out. Hayes has long been a coach unabashed by bold or controversial roster decisions. She already dropped forward Alex Morgan from the Olympics roster in June after coaching only two USWNT games from the sidelines. (Since then, Morgan has retired and last month announced she is pregnant.)
Hayes repeatedly said over the past week that more of her plan will become clear in January, when she rolls out her 2027-28 roadmap to the entire staff. That document will include playing styles and ideology that she expects to trickle down to the youth national teams, too.
Developing the USWNT’s goalkeeper succession plan
What happens in goal will serve as a microcosm of Hayes’ remit across the program.
Alyssa Naeher proved again why she is the USWNT’s No. 1 goalkeeper at the Olympics. Naeher made several sensational saves, from the star-jump toe save from point-blank range to deny Germany a 119th-minute equalizer in the semifinal, to sensational saves in stoppage time of each half of the gold-medal victory over Brazil. She conceded only two goals in six games at the Olympics.
Naeher, however, will be 39 years old at the next World Cup. Even putting aside age, which arguably factors less for goalkeepers than field players, there is the question of experience for any potential change in net. The USWNT also has a proven track record of both producing sensational goalkeepers and struggling with how to transition to the next one.
Albert had scored a sensational game-winner off the bench against Australia in group play, then replaced Horan at the start of extra time against Germany in the quarterfinal. Horan struggled through parts of that game with errant passes, and Germany’s more aggressive disposition from the week prior in the teams’ group-stage meeting stretched out the U.S. midfield. It wasn’t the first time in that tournament that the midfield was stretched defensively or bypassed in possession.
Given that midfield struggles were a key factor in the USWNT’s many problems at the 2023 World Cup under then-coach Vlatko Andonovski, Hayes must figure out the best path forward. She has plenty of choices, making her decisions that much harder — there is abundant skill among the incumbent players and plenty of rising talent waiting in the wings.
Croix Bethune, who was part of the gold medal-winning team, could be one answer at the No. 10 role once she returns from injury. Bethune tied an NWSL record for assists in a season (10) as a rookie this year despite missing the final two months of the season.
Ashley Sanchez could be the answer, too. She is back in camp for the first time in nearly a year thanks to superlative play with the North Carolina Courage this season.
Albert and Hal Hershfelt are clearly well-regarded by Hayes, Olivia Moultrie is back in camp, and that’s not even to mention whether Hayes will consider Jaedyn Shaw (listed as a forward) as a No. 10, which is her best role. Then add Catarina Macario (not in camp) to the mix if she can get healthy, and she could play as a second striker behind one of the Triple Espresso.
That entire group is age 25 or younger, and there’s a rising generation coming up behind it, with Hutton and the North Carolina Courage’s Riley Jackson among the midfielders leading the way.
Hayes’ calculus won’t just be about age, however. Nor is it solely about individual talent. What is going to be the ideal midfield unit? That is the piece that matters, and what will solidify the spine of the USWNT.
Coffey as a lone holding midfielder might eventually work and maybe it must if Hayes wants to get her surplus of attacking midfielders on the field. But a double pivot has worked well for the USWNT when they’ve implemented it in recent years, and there are ways around that being too defensive, like having more of a No. 8 profile (think: Sam Mewis) who drops slightly deeper to provide cover.
Hayes and former interim coach Twila Kilgore have already experimented with a three-back in the past year, which could suit the USWNT by getting more natural midfielders on the pitch. How that midfield unit fits together could be make or break to a 2027 World Cup triumph.
