It’s officially June, which means United States women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes is staring at her self-imposed deadline of figuring out the core of players on which she will rely going forward.
A pair of comfortable victories — 3-0 over China on May 31, followed by 4-0 over Jamaica on Tuesday night — didn’t offer the same kind of revealing test Brazil offered in April, but Hayes continued to dole out debuts this window in her quest to find every possible solution. Hayes said prior to the two games that “we’re very much on track for identifying that core group” that she will develop on the road to the 2027 World Cup. She offered more specifics in the days that followed, including the most revealing clue yet about who will be the USWNT’s next No. 1 goalkeeper following Tuesday’s win over Jamaica.
“When I watch the team, they very much molded into an Emma Hayes team,” Hayes said after Tuesday’s victory. “That’s how I feel when I watch us. I feel like there’s a lot of composure to the performances.”
Drawing too definitive of conclusions from these two games in a vacuum risks hyperbole, but the victories over China and Jamaica brought further confirmation of trends that were already developing.
Who continues to establish themselves as part of that core, and who among the new players looks like they will stick around? Let’s look by position.
Goalkeepers: A clear favorite emerges
This moment of uncertainty and inexperience in goal is unprecedented in the USWNT’s 40-year history, but there is now a clear favorite to take the No. 1 job — something that could not be said previously.
Phallon Tullis-Joyce started both games for the USWNT this window, earning her second and third caps after her strong debut against Brazil in April. Tullis-Joyce wasn’t busy in either game as the USWNT dominated possession (including 82% against Jamaica, who had zero shots on target and generated 0.07 expected goals, per ESPN Stats and Information). That can be the life of the goalkeeper, however — especially for the USWNT against inferior opposition.
Hayes tried to pour some water on the idea that any goalkeeper will be the No. 1 by stating it is necessary to develop multiple players for the role ahead of 2027. Yet she also made it clear how Tullis-Joyce is the leader.
“I think it’s fair to say Phallon’s experience at this moment in time, with the current group that I’ve got, is ahead,” Hayes said. “I still want to develop the other goalkeepers, but I get a fair sense of where their level is, one in relation to each other, but two in relation to 2027.
“There’s no easy way to answer that question, because I don’t think it’s as simple as just saying you’re my No. 1 and develop one. I think it would be foolish of me to do that in case someone falls out of form or they get injured, or those things, but Phallon is doing a tremendous job with everything that I’m asking.”
Tullis-Joyce is the most in-form American goalkeeper at the club level — although Claudia Dickey‘s NWSL “data don’t lie,” as Hayes said recently before calling up Dickey for the first time — and she’s starting to establish the necessary relationships with her defenders.
The most recent games were also the first with all-world centerback Naomi Girma available this year. Hayes noted after Tuesday’s match that it was important for Girma and Tullis-Joyce to “build connections.” There should be more of that in the future.
Fellow teenager Claire Hutton also started against Jamaica to earn her third cap — this time as part of a double pivot in the middle alongside Sam Coffey. Hutton once again looked like a more experienced player as she and Coffey checked into wide spaces to receive the ball and draw Jamaica out of its defensive shape.
The USWNT has had a love-hate relationship with the double pivot in recent years, and the truth is that the exact setup will depend on the opponent. But it was effective again against Jamaica, and Hutton playing alongside Coffey provides balance and support. Both Hutton and Yohannes have the makings of players who can be fixtures with the USWNT for multiple cycles.
Forwards: A Cat and mouse game
Catarina Macario is the USWNT’s No. 9 for the foreseeable future, especially with Sophia Wilson out on maternity leave. The unique way in which Macario plays that position affects everything and everyone around her.
Macario is more comfortable as a No. 10 and thus plays the striker role as a false nine — a role the USWNT has not consistently played with in recent memory. There’s a Catch-22 to that: It allows Macario to play freely, combining with her attacking midfielder and drawing centerbacks out of shape, but it also could mean there’s a void left in the strike space at times.
Hayes is savvy and has accounted for this by encouraging her wingers to take the vacant space on the inside, and nobody is doing that better right now than Alyssa Thompson. The 20-year-old Thompson oozes confidence on the ball 1-v-1 and likes to cut in and combine or shoot from the left flank — which is exactly what led to the USWNT’s second goal on Tuesday.
Ally Sentnor scored that goal and registered a brace, giving her four goals in eight caps. Sentnor is exceptional on the dribble; former USWNT winger Tobin Heath recently said Sentnor “has demonstrated Messi-like qualities.”
Sentnor also can fire a powerful shot on a short run-up and without much space — a signature skill of another two-time World Cup champion winger, Christen Press. While she still needs to improve her shot selection and accuracy, but she is already producing for the USWNT at 21 years old. She will be part of the solution at wide forward alongside Thompson and Michelle Cooper, among others.
Lynn Biyendolo also scored a brace off the bench as she continues to fill any role that Hayes throws at her — Biyendolo’s 12 goals as a substitute are more than any other USWNT player since 2016, per Opta.
“We really wanted to be ruthless in the in the final third,” Hayes said on Tuesday. “I don’t think we started out like that, but I think we ended like that.”
There are tougher tests to come, most imminently against Canada on July 2, but as Hayes said on Tuesday, there is a maturity to the USWNT despite its inexperience. The progress from this time last year is clear both in the depth of the player pool and the team’s patterns of play.
By this time next month, Hayes will have identified her core for the 2027 World Cup. From here, that process looks right on track.
