It’s a big week for Emma Hayes and the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) as they prepare to face England in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening.
The 48-year-old named a rather experimental 24-man squad for their friendlies against the lionesses and the Netherlands over the next week. Only 15 of the 22 that helped the team achieve a gold medal at the Olympic Games during the summer they have traveled to Europe, while Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith, also known as ‘Triple Espresso’ are among the big omissions.
The USWNT last faced England at Wembley Stadium in October 2022, when goals from Lauren Hemp and Georgia Stanway spurred Sarina Wiegman’s side to a 2-1 victory. However, only seven of the American players who were on former coach Vlatko Andonovski’s squad last time out are included this week.
That means Hayes faces the difficult task of preparing potentially two debutants and seven players who received their first caps for the US senior team just last month for a mammoth clash against the reigning champions of Europe and World Cup 2023 finalists in front of 80,000 spectators at Wembley.
“I was talking to my executive coach yesterday about it,” Hayes told the media at a press conference on Monday. “There’s this spectrum around performance, that I myself am a person who has to be at my point of extension to perform. I’ve always felt the bigger the game, that’s great for me. For some people, it’s the convenience that does it for them.
“Some people need to be in a state of complete comfort. So I have to consider a Rose Lavelle, who has over a hundred trophies, versus an Alyssa Thompson or an Emma Sears or an Ali Sender , who have just joined our group and have very limited positions.
“I don’t know what their point is. So internally, throughout the week, I have to create situations where they understand. Everyone’s tipping point is different, and I have to understand that. This week we came up with a series of things to test people’s ability to perform under pressure, off the field as well as on it, to see in a short period of time the stress response stimulus and see who they are under that.
Whether it’s a spontaneous musical performance in front of the whole group, Hayes is confident that the small challenges throughout the week will test his team, especially the newcomers, ahead of two tough games in England and the Netherlands. His team has already shown it is capable of competing for silverware, as it did at the Olympics, but this new line-up for Saturday’s clash allows the first Chelsea head to evaluate a wider group of players outside the mainstays.
“Of course, I won’t know what they’re going to be like until some of them come out and perform, but I know you have to show people that,” Hayes continued. “You have to create situations, an overload of situations, for people to be in a position to be able to handle it, and some will do it more naturally than others, but that’s what my job is as a coach. Not just identifying it, but arming them with the tools and skills to be able to do it.
“Okay, calling out three names in a team meeting and telling them they have to perform X factor in one minute is one thing, but going out and seeing 80,000+ people is another if the highest level that you played in front of 10,000, or if it was a college level.
“That’s what I’m really looking forward to seeing, which of our players thrive on it and which ones need more support.”
