Latest news with #2025SheBelievesCup
USA Today
28-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Four USWNT takeaways from the 2025 SheBelieves Cup
Four USWNT takeaways from the 2025 SheBelieves Cup Show Caption Hide Caption Megan Rapinoe on what Coach Emma Hayes brings to the USWNT Megan Rapinoe explains why she's all in on Coach Emma Hayes and what she brings to the U.S. Women's National Team. Sports Seriously The U.S. women's national team didn't win the SheBelieves Cup, but that doesn't mean the tournament was a total loss. Far from it, in fact. For the first time in six years, the USWNT fell short in the SheBelieves Cup, as Japan took home the tournament by defeating Emma Hayes' side 2-1 in the finale. The U.S. began the tournament with a comfortable 2-0 win over Colombia, before a 2-1 victory over Australia. Hayes will have learned plenty from the USWNT's successes and failures over the three-game event, even if she won't necessarily be pleased to have lost her first game as the team's head coach. Part of that learning came from some notable absences. The USWNT's "Triple Espresso" front line, center back Naomi Girma, and midfielder Rose Lavelle were all absent, creating opportunities for Hayes to see other options. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the SheBelieves Cup. Midfield is in good hands If we weren't aware before the SheBelieves Cup, we know now: The USWNT is going to have an absolutely fierce competition at central midfield moving forward. That was underlined by the emergence of two teenage stars during the tournament, Lily Yohannes and Claire Hutton. Both players were superb in their first USWNT starts — Yohannes against Colombia and Hutton against Australia. Yohannes wasn't quite as effective against Japan but also provided some moments of true quality. Also: she's 17. The emergence of Yohannes and Sutton figures to put real pressure on Sam Coffey and Korbin Albert in defensive/holding midfield roles. Coffey appears to be more entrenched than Albert, but the latter continues to enjoy plenty of trust from Hayes. Jaedyn Shaw is undoubtedly a key piece of the USWNT's future, but there are two main questions surrounding the 20-year-old: How soon is that future, and where will she be playing? On evidence of the SheBelieves Cup, Shaw looks much more comfortable as a No. 10, where she thrived against Australia, than as a winger, where she struggled against Japan. But breaking through as a 10 will be a major challenge because of two USWNT mainstays over the past decade: Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Heaps. Lavelle turns 30 this year and continues to be hampered by injuries. Heaps is already 30 and in truth, hasn't been at her best for the USWNT for the better part of the last year (want proof? Just ask her). Lavelle missed the SheBelieves Cup due to injury, while Heaps again failed to make a major impact. Both players still have a role to play for the USWNT if fit and firing, but it's worth questioning whether the best version of the team's central midfield includes either player right now. Goalkeeper still a major question One of, if not the biggest issue to resolve for Hayes in 2025 revolves around the team's goalkeeper position. After several years as the team's unquestioned starter, Alyssa Naeher retired from international duty at the end of 2024. That left a wide-open competition to be her replacement, which Hayes wants to have down to the final three by the end of the SheBelieves Cup. If Hayes was hoping for one of her two rostered goalkeepers for the SheBelieves Cup to grab the position by the scruff of the neck, she'll probably come away disappointed. Jane Campbell started two of the team's three games, neither of which resulted in the Houston Dash goalkeeper putting in a standout display. Against Colombia she had zero shots to save and precious little to do. Against Japan, she wasn't directly at fault for either goal, but could have done better on both as well. But Mandy McGlynn didn't make her best case either. Given a chance against Australia, the Utah Royals shot-stopper was shaky in a couple moments while also doing well to punch away a number of balls lofted into the box. The Matildas' only shot on goal was a close-range header McGlynn could do little about. Hayes' roster selections for April's friendlies against Brazil will be telling. Will she bring either goalkeeper back? Will she give Phallon Tullis-Joyce — who was a training player on this roster — a chance to play in a game? Or will names like Casey Murphy, Aubrey Kingsbury, Angelina Anderson or Claudia Dickey get back in the mix? Ally Sentnor is ready for this It was only fitting that Ally Sentnor's first international goal was a long-range banger. The strike against Colombia meant five of the Utah Royals forward's first six career goals came from outside the box. But that goal wouldn't be Sentnor's last in a breakout SheBelieves Cup. Sentnor also scored the USWNT's only goal against Japan, in addition to an assist against Australia. She was the only USWNT player to score multiple goals in the tournament, and led the team with three goal contributions. Perhaps no USWNT player boosted their stock more in this SheBelieves Cup than Sentnor, who only debuted for the national team late last year and now looks like one of Hayes' top forward options behind Triple Espresso. 'Ally has demonstrated in her rise through the youth national teams and in her first pro year that she's got qualities that can decide a game,' Hayes said after the loss to Japan. 'She certainly finishes the very minimal chances she might get, and that's what top players possess. I think she's got that, and it will build her confidence to have had this tournament and be given a couple of starts.' The USWNT has plenty of depth behind Triple Espresso, but at 21, Sentnor has shown she is a valuable piece for the future — and the present. Mission accomplished for Hayes The SheBelieves Cup is a somewhat nebulous competition when it comes to judging its importance. Sure, it's called a "tournament" but for official purposes, it's really just three friendlies in a row. With more than two years until the next competition the USWNT truly cares about, the World Cup, Hayes took advantage of the chance to experiment with her player pool at the SheBelieves Cup. 'I always go back to what our objectives were in the first place, and that was to deepen our playing pool with opportunities in high-pressure situations against top opponents. That's what tonight especially is about," Hayes said after the Japan game. Hayes' goal was also helped by some absences of key players. With no Triple Espresso, Girma or Lavelle, there were open positions across all three lines of the USWNT's lineup. Having a full compliment of players may have resulted in the USWNT, you know, actually winning the tournament, but the outcome of this year's competition could prove more beneficial than an alternative reality where a full-strength USWNT beats Japan. There is no better experience for a player like Yohannes than to face the ferocious press of Japan, or for a player like Shaw to be the conductor of the team's attack against Australia. Tara McKeown, who only converted to defense a couple years ago, got significant minutes in all three games. The list goes on. 'You want to learn this lesson now," Hayes said on TBS after the Japan game. "It allows me to say these are the things we have to do at the highest level. That's what development is. We're not playing for the World Cup today. We'll be back, don't worry about it. We'll be back.'
USA Today
27-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
USWNT vs. Japan: SheBelieves Cup schedule, standings, how to watch
USWNT vs. Japan: SheBelieves Cup schedule, standings, how to watch Show Caption Hide Caption Megan Rapinoe on what Coach Emma Hayes brings to the USWNT Megan Rapinoe explains why she's all in on Coach Emma Hayes and what she brings to the U.S. Women's National Team. Sports Seriously The U.S. women's national team will take on Japan Wednesday night, as the two top teams at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup face off with a tournament trophy on the line. The USWNT has won two straight to start 2025, following last week's 2-0 win against Colombia up with a 2-1 victory over Australia on Sunday. However, with Japan winning twice by a superior margin, the USWNT must win to become the tournament's winner for a sixth straight year. Utah Royals forward Mina Tanaka has four goals and three assists at the SheBelieves Cup, and is among several dangerous players a new-look USWNT will have to contain. Head coach Emma Hayes, with a long build-up before the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, is expanding the U.S. player pool by naming seven players on her tournament roster under the age of 22. Here's what to know about the SheBelieves Cup game between the USWNT and Japan: USWNT: Emma Hayes is reimagining women's soccer in America: 'The USWNT Way' USWNT vs. Japan SheBelieves Cup: TV channel, time, how to watch Date: Wednesday, Feb. 26 Wednesday, Feb. 26 Time: 10:30 p.m. ET 10:30 p.m. ET TV : TBS : TBS Stream: Sling TV Sling TV Location: Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, Calif.) Watch USWNT vs. Japan on Sling TV USWNT schedule: SheBelieves Cup games and results Thursday, Feb. 20: USWNT 2-0 Colombia USWNT 2-0 Colombia Sunday, Feb. 23: USWNT 2-1 Australia USWNT 2-1 Australia Wednesday, Feb. 26: USWNT vs. Japan (10:30 p.m ET, Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, Calif.) Following the SheBelieves Cup, the USWNT's next matches will be a back-to-back set of friendlies against Brazil. Those games will take place on April 5 (SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Calif.) and April 8 (PayPal Park, San Jose, Calif.). SheBelieves Cup 2025: Standings ahead of USWNT vs. Japan Japan: 6 points USWNT: 6 points Australia: 0 points Colombia: 0 points How does SheBelieves Cup format work? The SheBelieves Cup, which began in 2016, operates under a round-robin format, with the USWNT joined by some of the world's best national teams. Each team plays one game against all other opponents in the tournament, totaling three games. The SheBelieves Cup champion is determined by standings, which see three points for a win and one for a draw (which is standard for soccer worldwide). If two teams finish with the same point total, SheBelieves Cup uses the following as tiebreakers: Goal difference Goals scored Head-to-head result Fair play ranking (essentially a tabulation of each team's total yellow and red cards throughout the tournament) We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
USWNT vs. Colombia score: SheBelieves Cup results, highlights
USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. The U.S. Women's National Team is off to a great start in 2025. The USWNT opened the 2025 SheBelieves Cup with a 2-0 win over Colombia on Thursday at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. Although Team USA was without its superstar trio of Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson, who led the team to an Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games, young players on the roster stepped up en route to a victory. Americans Catarina Macario (33') and Ally Sentnor (60') both scored, while Colombia was shut out. Colombia, however, received three yellow cards — Daniela Arias (58'), Ivonne Chacón (88') and Maria Camila Reyes (91'). "We're just having fun out there," said Macario, who scored her first international goal in nearly three years following an ACL injury. "It's a tremendous honor to be back here again and just to be playing." The USWNT is vying for its sixth consecutive SheBelieves Cup title. The U.S. women have won seven of the nine tournaments since the SheBelieves Cup was founded in 2016. Here's a look at highlights from Thursday's matchup: The U.S. almost got on the board in the 18th minute. Macario inbounded the ball to a wide-open Jenna Nighswonger, who narrowly missed the goal by hitting the crossbar. The U.S. got more opportunities later in the match. Macario gave the USWNT the lead at the 33-minute mark with a goal, her first in international play since 2022 after missing significant time with an ACL injury. Cat's 𝑠𝑜 back 💥#USWNT x @VW — U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 21, 2025 Sentnor extended the Americans' lead to 2-0 in the 59th minute on a long-range strike, which marked her first international goal in only her third cap. There was extra cause for celebration — Sentnor turned 21 on Tuesday. Sentnor SENT! IT!#USWNT x @VW — U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) February 21, 2025 The tournament shifts to Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday. Colombia (0-1) and Japan (1-0) will face off first at 2 p.m. ET, followed by the USWNT (1-0) vs. Australia (0-1). The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USWNT vs Colombia in SheBelieves Cup match: Results, highlights
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lily Yohannes, at age 17, is already a USWNT game-changer
Lily Yohannes burst onto the U.S. women's national team scene last year with a debut goal and an irresistible 16-year-old smile. But what she did Thursday night for the USWNT, and what she does wherever she goes, is far more important and impressive. Yohannes, now 17, is playmaker. And she made a play Thursday, on the opening night of the SheBelieves Cup, that most U.S. midfielders have never made in their lives. She picked up her head, and pinged a lovely ball into limited space behind Colombia's defense. Yazmeen Ryan ran onto it, and fizzed it across the six-yard box to Cat Macario — who will rightly nab headlines for her first USWNT goal in nearly three years, the first of a 2-0 U.S. win. But it was Yohannes who ran the show. It was the 17-year-old's composure that helped the USWNT settle into a choppy, chippy first half. And it's her distribution that fundamentally changes who the USWNT is and what it can be. Advertisement This was Yohannes' first start for the national team, and just her second game since committing to play for the U.S. rather than for the Netherlands. She was a mildly surprising inclusion in the starting 11, given that all three midfielders who started the Olympic final last summer — Lindsey Heaps (née Horan), Sam Coffey and Korbin Albert — were present, fit and available. Their skill sets, though, are somewhat redundant. Yohannes is different. At 17, she already has a passing range that is unparalleled, and perhaps unprecedented, in the U.S. player pool. HOUSTON, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 20: Lily Yohannes #11 of USA passes the ball in the first half against Colombia during the 2025 SheBelieves Cup at Shell Energy Stadium on February 20, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by) (Jack Gorman via Getty Images) Her technical ability is no fluke. And that she's the only USWNT player raised abroad is no coincidence. Yohannes and her family moved to the Netherlands when Lily was 10 — and escaped a U.S. youth soccer system that often prizes physical prowess over technique and tactical awareness. Yohannes, instead, joined the famed academy at Ajax Amsterdam as a young teen. And she developed an understanding of the sport that few American players ever gain. Advertisement She progressed rapidly through the Ajax ranks. She was starting Champions League games by age 16. That's when she grabbed the attention of U.S. Soccer. She earned her first USWNT call-up last spring. And less than a year later, she's a difference-maker. A game-changer. A locksmith and a line-breaker. Yohannes spent the first half of Thursday's game spraying passes side to side, and injecting life into a U.S. attack that, without its Triple Espresso front three, might have otherwise been stagnant. Her diagonals to both wings stretched Colombia. And her lofted through-ball to Ryan for the goal broke the visitors. Advertisement In the second half, Ally Sentnor, another young stud, doubled the U.S. lead. Sentnor is a versatile forward, but it was her one standout skill that all but sealed the win: her swerving, knuckling shots from distance. Sentnor can strike a ball with frightening power and stunning ease. She's done it at youth levels. She's doing it in the NWSL. Now, at 21, she's done it for the USWNT. Shooting, though, is not a foreign trait. Yohannes' smoothness, and calmness, and vision, and passing ambition are. That's why she's so vital to the USWNT's future — and present. Yohannes played in a No. 8 role, lower than Heaps (née Horan) but ahead of Coffey, as a deep playmaker with license to get forward. She provided solutions in early phases of possession, checking to the ball and safeguarding it. In latter phases, her progressive passing provided dynamism. And, crucially, she has grown. She was not physically overmatched Thursday, nor overwhelmed by the pace of the international game. She was solid defensively alongside Coffey. Late into the second half, she was racing back into the USWNT's own penalty area to block shots with a lunging, outstretched right leg. In stoppage time, she was breaking up Colombian counters. Advertisement She is, of course, still only 17. She will not do this every game. Like other teen phenoms, Yohannes will surely have her bumps, her ups and downs, her struggles. Before long, she'll be navigating a move to a big European club, and growing popularity, and adulthood. USWNT head coach Emma Hayes and the program will understandably be hesitant to rush her. But Yohannes belongs. She belongs in the USWNT starting 11 ahead of Albert. She is already a ceiling-lifter.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
City stars lock horns in SheBelieves Cup opener
There was a City-centric feel to the opening game at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup as Japan recorded a 4-0 win over Australia in Houston. Ayaka Yamashita, Yui Hasegawa and Aoba Fujino all started for Nadeshiko at Shell Energy Stadium and helped their side to victory over a Matildas team that selected Mary Fowler from the off. Japan broke the deadlock in the sixth minute when Fujino's cross from the left was recycled to the edge of the area before Fuka Nugano's shot was turned into the back of the net thanks to Mina Tanaka's delicate backheel from close range. Following the opener, the encounter developed into an evenly contested affair and former City winger Hayley Raso almost unleashed a pass into Fowler's direction, but it was intercepted just before our forward could strike at goal. But Australia's strong momentum was almost extinguished before the interval when a hopeful cross into the box was met by Mina Tanaka whose header crashed off the crossbar. The Utah Royals forward made no mistake when presented the next opportunity, though, as defensive miscommunication following another direct ball into the box allowed the 30-year-old to ghost into the area and tap into the net. WATCH: Walk and Talk with Hasegawa and Oyama Following the interval, Tanaka's influence on proceedings continued and she turned provider on 52 minutes when her driven cross following a sublime passing move was tucked into an empty net by Maika Hamano. And Japan finished off the scoring to add the gloss to a fine afternoon when Moeka Minami met a diagonal into the area to glance the ball into the back of the net. It means Nadeshiko sit at the top of the SheBelieves Cup table ahead of their second fixture at the tournament when they meet Colombia on Sunday 23 February at 19:00 (UK). Australia, meanwhile, will look to bounce back in their second assignment – a clash with hosts the United States of America on Sunday at 22:00 (UK).
