Center back Naomi Girma stole the show in Louisville as the U.S. women’s national team closed its international window with its third victory. But the real story of that October camp is the sheer amount of evaluation head coach Emma Hayes put in, in addition to the celebratory nature of the team’s Olympic gold medal victory tour.
“I got out of it what I wanted to get out of it,” Hayes said Wednesday. “A lot of debutants, minutes scored for everyone still playing in NWSL, (and) a chance to develop some of the things we’ve set for us as goals on the training pitch.”
Hayes stands by everything she’s said since taking over the job in May, going back to her first media appearances in New York City this spring — specifically, club form matters. Although her hands were somewhat tied during this period, as the celebration of the Olympic Games meant she had to call up every healthy member of the squad going to the Games in France in the summer, she made full use of her remaining roster spots. She also maximized rotation not only in the starting lineups and her substitution choices, but also in the 23-player gameday rosters.
All seven uncapped players on the roster, including a mid-camp addition, earned their first USWNT minutes.
Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams and Washington Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt were in France as alternates but did not see the field. Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears made an immediate impact in her debut as only the fourth player in program history to score a goal and assist in her first cap. Bay FC defender Alyssa Malonson picked up her first assist in her debut against Argentina on Wednesday, playing for Girma. Paris Saint-Germain’s Eva Gaetino, Utah Royals’ Mandy Haught and Gotham FC’s Yazmeen Ryan rounded out the new kids.
3 – Three different ones #USWNT players (Eva Gaetino, Mandy Haught & Alyssa Malonson) will make their national team debut in the same match for the first time since four players played against Italy on March 7, 2001. Newcomers. pic.twitter.com/mzv4oVFFUL
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) October 30, 2024
There were also important returns. Alyssa Thompson finally scored her first international goal as she returned to the national team after missing out on Olympic selection, and Ashley Sanchez and Hailie Mace picked up minutes against Argentina.
It’s hard to disagree with Hayes’ approach to the club’s form after a successful spell as she has achieved all her goals and recorded three multi-goal wins. As a bonus, she also saw the team finally fall behind by a goal, forcing them to stage a comeback against Iceland on Sunday in Nashville. It was the first time the USWNT fell behind in a match led by Hayes.
The challenge now is to figure out how much these competitions actually matter in the long run. While the friendlies were fun to watch – no one will complain about a Girma brace either – with so much emphasis on rotation and evaluation, it feels more like one of the first pieces of the bigger puzzle. One that won’t be ready for a few years.
The second half of 2024 generally felt like a period of recovery and big thinking at senior team level.
While the next and final period of the year, late November and early December, will see two high-profile European opponents on the road, the friendlies against England and the Netherlands are likely to be a standout from this period. Higher profile opponents mean higher stakes, but it’s reasonable to expect Hayes to once again utilize the full depth of her roster for evaluation and development purposes.
Our last home game of the year did not disappoint! ⚡
A sold-out stadium, three international debuts and two goals from central defender Naomi Girma! #USWNT X @JimBeam pic.twitter.com/ab7bcLUX8u
— US Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 31, 2024
Hayes has already shown she is not afraid of big moments and has prioritized utilizing the depth of her squad to bring Jaedyn Shaw, Croix Bethune and others to their first major tournament this summer. While the starting XI against England on November 30 will certainly be the strongest possible, Hayes still has a chance to ensure that players who will be crucial to the team’s success two or three years later also experience an environment like Wembley Stadium .
The real sign of things to come will be January’s Futures Camp, which Hayes promised to host simultaneously with the full senior team camp in Los Angeles. The USWNT has not hosted a talent and identification camp since 2019, shortly after Vlatko Andonovski took over the team, but it was the only one that took place during his four-year tenure.
Hayes has promised to cast a wide target, especially after the under-20 and under-17 teams’ semi-finals at their respective World Cups this year. But despite all the concerns in recent years about generational changes, the runway has finally been fully cleared.
The Olympics were the most obvious symbolic gesture of the end of a USWNT era, with Alex Morgan left out of the squad. It was a surprising demise of a generational player, but it was also a testament to the team she helped build.
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There are more options than ever before in every position. Making the American selection seems more difficult than in the past, but this is also more clearly tied to the form and therefore more transparent than ever. Hayes has finally truly buried that “emergency operation” line she came in with that led the team to Olympic gold, and as promised, the bigger work is now underway.
These three games provided a good start, but were still only a beginning.
The first 270 minutes of the cycle leading to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and the Olympic Games in their own country in Los Angeles a year later are over. There is so much more to come.
(Top photo: Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)