For USWNT Coach Hayes, It's Not About Today, It's About Tomorrow

Forbes

10-04-2025

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 08: United States head coach Emma Hayes along the sidelines prior to ... More playing Brazil at PayPal Park on April 08, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
When she took over the reins of the U.S. Women's National Team, it was pretty obvious to head coach Emma Hayes that the squad was dominated by veteran players, some of which were getting long in the tooth for international soccer.
She understood that the team needed to get younger, especially after the disaster that occurred at the 2023 Women's World Cup when the embarrassed Americans exited in the Round of 16. It was the four-time champion's poorest performance ever in the competition.
In 2024, Hayes did a quick makeover of the team on the fly in only 10 matches, as the USA bounced back with a gold-medal winning performance at the Paris Summer Olympics.
And she is far from finished as the Englishwoman has set her sights on winning the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil.
Which brings us to the USA's 2-1 extra time loss to Brazil in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday night.
"We mustn't always measure progress by outcome," Hayes said afterwards, noting that the squad that she deployed at PayPal Park was the youngest capped USWNT team (averaging 17.9 international matches) in 24 years.
That's a generation ago.
The experience the team gained was invaluable. The Brazilian women have never won a Women's World Cup or an Olympic gold medal, but that doesn't define the team. They boast some of the world's best players and have skills that many spectators marvel at.
And oh yeah, Brazil earned the silver medal in Paris, losing to the USA.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 08: Head coach Emma Hayes of the United States speaks during a ... More post-game press conference after their game against Brazil at PayPal Park on April 08, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by)
"What a great experience for them to go into a game in which you get to feel the pressure of playing a really, really difficult opponent," Hayes said. "If I only prioritize short term success, of course, I wouldn't make that many changes, but I'm not making decisions for the short term. I'm prioritizing the progress from expanding the playing pool to getting to see what these players look like in a really difficult match."
And what better way to get thrown into the deep end of the pool against one of the world's best teams in an international friendly.
Hayes gets it.
It isn't about today, it is about tomorrow and the next big competition, the Women's World Cup.
"We won't get the opportunity to play a team like Brazil till hopefully, we go to Brazil maybe next year," Hayes said. 'But I don't want to wait another year for me to get a look at these less experienced players against a top-level opponent. I'm glad I made that decision, even if you feel a little bit of short-term pain with it.'
The USWNT head coach singled out four players who had a combined 11 international appearances after the encounter - defenders Gisele Thompson, age 19, (3 caps) and Avery Patterson, 22 (2) midfielder Claire Hutton, 19 (2) and forward Michelle Cooper, 22 (4).
"I mean, what a game Claire Hutton had," Hayes said. "Avery Patterson, I thought those two players were superb. I thought Giselle Thompson battled. I thought Michelle Cooper showed glimpses.
"I'm a lot clearer now and that's for me, an important step, because I wouldn't know that if I don't put Avery Patterson in this position. If I play her against, say, China or an Ireland, I think I learned what I might already know, whereas today I learned what I didn't know, and I was really happy with it."
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 08: Claire Hutton #16 of the United States battles for the ball with ... More Kerolin #10 of Brazil at PayPal Park on April 08, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by John Todd/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
For Hutton, who plays for the Kansas Current (National Women's Soccer League), it was the learning experience of a lifetime.
"It's just one of those learning lessons where you need to stick it out till the end,' she said. 'That mental toughness, the physical toughness, the emotional toughness. All of it goes into that. It was the hardest game I've ever played in. Just knowing that I have this experience under me moving forward is going to keep me growing as a player.'
As the game went on the U.S. fatigued. The South Americans enjoyed a 58-42 possession advantage.
Hayes noted that her team dominated the first-half duels, forcing Brazil to make two substitutions.
"But it's not a game 45 minutes long. It was a great first half. Wasn't good enough in the second half," she said. "For some of them, they probably never played a game like that before with that volume of dueling. I think that took a lot out of us. As I kept saying to the team, 'I want to put players in the frying pan, and I want you to feel the heat.' '
Said Hutton: "This is pressure cooker football, and we're here to feel the pressure. She's [Hayes] putting us in environments to feel that. The World Cup is in two years. I had one cap before. If we don't get these experiences, we won't be ready in two years."
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 8: Gabi Portilho #18 of Brazil battles for the ball with Avery ... More Patterson #13 of the United States during a game between USWNT and Brazil at PayPal Park on April 8, 2025 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Lyndsay Radnedge/)
Some of those players might wind up playing for U.S. Under-23 national team to hone their skills, said Hayes, although she wouldn't say which ones.
"They need to develop their game and prove themselves at that level first, before they make progress here," she said. "It is not the World Cup today. If it was, we'd be disappointed, but I didn't pick a team today for today."
Hayes already knows what veterans such as the Triple Espresso - Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson - can bring to the table, especially after what transpired in France last summer.
But what if one or even two of them get injured?
As everyone knows, no team can ever have enough depth.
"If I solely prioritize keeping the same seven to 13 players together, yeah, I can do that, but I don't learn anything about particularly those senior players," Hayes said. "I'm a long-term player development coach. I've got a pretty good track record of producing winning teams. So, this is necessary for us to go through that.
"It's important we support those players, because I don't want them to feel like they let anybody down, or it's a disappointment. Far from it. Look at the progress. Avery Patterson, Claire Hutton, Gisele Thompson, Michelle Cooper, Lily Yohannes. These are players whose names wouldn't be on everybody's lips, even three camps ago. Now, we're talking about these players, going to be competing to play in a World Cup. Well, if they are, well, we better get them ready, and we can't do that by just playing them in the World Cup, I can assure you."
The next time Hayes will have an opportunity to bring these players and the team together will be against China on May 31 and June 3.
Hayes will have some time to figure out which players she will deploy for those two games. She was optimistic about the future.
"I genuinely think in this camp, we've seen so many good things to know we're heading in the right direction," she said. "Just the result sucks, and it's okay to feel that, but we will get better in the end."