The USWNT basks in the return of Naomi Girma – their ‘security blanket'

New York Times

2 days ago

Compared to the past few windows, Saturday's 3-0 win was a game where the U.S. women's national team looked in complete control.
The attack kept the pressure on China, continuing to threaten their defense as it frequently adjusted the height of its line of confrontation. Catarina Macario provided a goal and an assist; Lindsey Heaps and Sam Coffey scored from their midfield roles.
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However, head coach Emma Hayes' post-match press conference started with a question about the long-awaited return of Naomi Girma and how the team benefited from her 90-minute shift.
'We've missed her, we really have,' Hayes said. 'Just in terms of the way we control the game; her, in a deeper space, just making decisions when to play forward, when not to.'
As the first million-dollar transfer in women's soccer history, this year has only intensified the scrutiny that comes with being one of the world's best players in her position. Her time at Chelsea was not as smooth as the club and player had hoped. She exited her debut in early March with a calf injury, feeling the strain having gone nearly four months without playing a club match. Her first minutes back with Chelsea came in mid-April and this international window marked her first with the U.S. in 2025.
'I gave her a hug after the game,' said midfielder Coffey, who scored her second U.S. goal against China. 'Having her on the field is like having a security blanket, and just like being wrapped in it.'
After some tense and at times disjointed performances against Japan in the SheBelieves Cup and Brazil in a pair of friendlies, the USWNT dominated the entire match on Saturday. The defense played its part, with Coffey shuttling around to shield the back-line and the partnership between Girma and Emily Sonnett giving goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce ample coverage whenever China reached the final third.
Those threats were few and far between. The USWNT dominated the chance-creation game, generating 3.01 expected goals (xG) while holding China to 0.18 xG.
'It does feel natural now,' Girma said of returning to the national team. 'I mean, I was able to watch what we did before, and I think a lot of what Emma wants to do is layer on what we had done in the past year. I think the changes are good and easy for me to kind of adapt to, with that base knowledge of how we want to play.
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'It was just nice to be back on the field.'
As was often the case during the triumphant run to Olympic gold last summer, Girma was at the heart of the team's build-up. She logged a staggering 138 touches, per TruMedia, 41 more than the team's second-most involved player (Avery Patterson, with the right-back notching 97 touches). Girma completed 95.3 percent of her 129 pass attempts, helping determine how the USWNT worked to break through China's defensive structure.
She also put in a defensive shift that embodied working smarter, not harder.
She was not throwing herself into many challenges, though much of that work was done well before the ball even reached the U.S. defense. Still, she was quick on mop up duty, leading the USWNT with seven ball clearances (nobody else had more than three) while winning all three ground duels and her only aerial duel.
Having her in the back-line only helped the midfield feel more confident as they engaged defensively, with peace of mind that she was in position if they failed to win the ball.
'I can't put into words what she means to this team,' Coffey said. 'I think everybody sees it on the field, but off the field as well. She's just a joy in this environment and such a light for us. We have missed her so much. I thought she was exceptional today, as she always is.'
In a year characterized by frequent rotation across Hayes' squads and lineups, Girma's return represents a different type of variable for the team. Throughout 2025, Hayes has called on a number of center-backs, each auditioning to be Girma's primary partner. Sonnett represents a vital holdover from the team's last World Cup win in 2019, having established herself as a hard-nosed veteran along the back-line. Emily Sams came off the bench against China, while Tara McKeown has earned five caps this year.
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The latter two in particular are emblematic of Hayes' examination of her broader player pool, with both stepping into more important roles given positional absences. Not only has Girma been missing, but so has her partner last summer, Tierna Davidson, who tore her ACL in April.
While Sams, McKeown, Sonnett and others have stepped into their roles, none can quite match the same comfortable benchmark established by Girma.
'I mean, she's a world-class player,' Hayes said. 'I thought she brought something to our performance that we're looking for, so I'm delighted to have her back.'
Once she returned to playing regular minutes for Chelsea in mid-April, she was eased back into the fold. While Chelsea kept clean sheets in each of her final four performances of the WSL season, only two of those matches saw Girma play all 90 minutes.
'It was a lot of transition for me,' Girma said on Friday regarding her first months with Chelsea. 'I think it was a huge learning experience for me. You always have those moments in your career where you're up and down, up and down, up and down, so it was definitely like that.
'But I think it was a good five months of getting settled, getting to know my team-mates, getting used to playing there, playing with a new team, and living in a new country. So it's been really positive so far, and I've really enjoyed it.'
Girma logged her 46th cap, an impressive total for a 24-year-old defender who seems destined to be the bedrock of this team for years to come. With its world class center-back in the lineup, the United States put together its most composed performance of the year. Then again, that revelation hardly comes as a surprise given Girma's floor-raising performances since her debut in 2022.