USWNT midfield stands out in 3-0 win over China, Sam Coffey tallies second U.S. goal

New York Times

4 days ago

One of the youngest U.S. women's national teams of recent years opened its stretch of friendlies with a commanding 3-0 win over China on Saturday at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Head coach Emma Hayes reaffirmed this week that the team is 'on track' to meet her deadline of having a core group set by June. With some consistency and production out of midfield, it was clear things were meshing for the U.S.
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Catarina Macario opened the scoring, cleaning up a strong effort from teammate Alyssa Thompson. However, it was the midfield that took center stage with several crosses into the box and goals from midfielder Sam Coffey and Lindsey Heap. Before the match was over, Hayes added in 32-year-old Lo'eau LaBonta, who became the oldest player to debut for the team.
Saturday's game showcased both veteran leadership and emerging talent as Hayes continues to prepare for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
As is often the case for U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey, most of her shift against China was spent doing the game's more thankless work in the trenches. On multiple occasions in the first half, Coffey took contact from opponents, an inevitability for a player who shuttles the ball around on her dribble to draw defenders in.
On Saturday, she was rewarded for all of those hard yards, coming into the box as the United States looked for a breakthrough. She collected a pass from Macario and connected with a tidy left-footed finish for her second international goal. (Fittingly, her first goal was also against China on Dec. 5, 2023.)
'I miss plenty of them in practice, so it was about time I made one,' Coffey joked on the TNT Sports broadcast at halftime. 'I feel like I'm working a lot on trying to join the play more, get up in counter-measures. I tend to play it too safe, and think too 'worst-case scenario,' so I was just trying to join. Cat (Macario) did all the work, laid it off.'
Coffey has become a mainstay since the start of 2024, making 27 appearances for the USWNT since the start of last year. Her positional awareness has also aided the evolution of the entire midfield, including Heaps and Lily Yohannes' alternating movement against China. While Hayes hasn't yet identified a clear second-choice defensive midfielder, as she continues to test alternatives like Claire Hutton, Hal Hershfelt, and Lo'eau LaBonta, the number 6 role is in good standing as long as Coffey is available.
— Jeff Rueter
For the first time since the SheBelieves Cup finale against Japan, Hayes started Coffey, Heaps and Yohannes together in midfield. As has often been the case under Hayes, Heaps primarily operated as a playmaker, while Yohannes often stayed alongside Coffey in defense.
Unlike past games where Heaps has started, there was more frequent positional interchange between the captain and Yohannes. Depending on China's movement ahead of the USWNT's possessive sequences, the 17-year-old would drift forward to play beneath Cat Macario, with Heaps backtracking into the vacated space. Meanwhile, Coffey shuttled across the field in the central third, working to give teammates an outlet for passing while positioning herself to screen any potential counterattacks.
Yohannes seemed to relish her opportunities in the more advanced role, tapping into her bag of tricks to flick the ball over opponents and work give-and-gos with right back Avery Patterson or winger Michelle Cooper. While Yohannes is more of a creator, Heaps operates as a secondary goalscoring threat, patrolling as high as possible to get on the end of crosses, hold up play, or get into scoring positions as the USWNT navigates the final third.
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The start of the second half, however, provided an emphatic reminder of what Heaps brings to the role: a good aerial threat who defenses can easily lose track of as Macario (or other strikers) draw primary attention.
Cooper ran onto a ball down the wing, took time to set up her cross without defensive pressure, and found an onrushing Heaps for a well-placed finish without needing to leave her feet. If anything, it's a massive advantage for Hayes to have capable players who can approach such a crucial role in very different ways but still provide an impact.
LaBonta is a bit of an anomaly for the U.S. She is both a rookie and an experienced presence on the team with her decade of experience in the NWSL.
But on Saturday, she earned a long-awaited first, becoming the oldest player to debut for the U.S. women at 32. LaBonta came into the match for 17-year-old Yohannes in the 70th minute.
'I'm going in expecting nothing, and willing to give everything,' LaBonta told The Athletic before the match. After the game, she told the TNT Sports broadcast that she was focused on how she could help the players who had been on the field from the start.
She did not get a chance to show off her signature celebrations, but LaBonta could get another chance to make her mark when the team takes the field against Jamaica in St. Louis on Tuesday.
The U.S. will face Jamaica on Tuesday, June 3, in St. Louis at Energizer Stadium. The match kicks off at 8 pm ET.