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USWNT ‘on track' to meet Emma Hayes' June deadline for establishing a core group of players
ST. PAUL, Minn. — As a year without a major tournament, 2025 has sometimes felt listless when watching the U.S. women's national team.
That isn't an indictment of their quality or caliber — far from it. Since winning the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, head coach Emma Hayes has undergone a thorough examination of the broader player pool beyond the core she inherited from predecessor Vlatko Andonovski. A year into the job, Hayes has already given 23 players their USWNT debuts, and three more players could earn their first cap in this window.
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After a few months of analysis, Hayes is narrowing down her squad. Earlier this year, Hayes said she hoped to identify her core group of players for the buildup to the 2027 Women's World Cup. She affirmed that timeline on Friday at Allianz Field ahead of Saturday's friendly against China.
'I feel we're very much on track for identifying that core group,' Hayes said. 'It's important not to get too drawn in on identifying 23 players; the pool has to be bigged up because of injury, because of illness, because of pregnancy, because of whatever. My job is to develop a larger group of players that, by the time we reach a tournament setting, have been given the right exposure to put ourselves in the best position possible.'
Throughout this window, the majority of focus will be on the senior team. However, Hayes was quick to point out the ongoing camps involving the under-20 and under-23 teams as well. The U-20s kicked off the Concacaf Under-20 Women's Championship on Friday with a dominant win over Guyana, while the U-23s defeated Germany with a last-minute goal in the first of a pair of friendlies. That U.S. squad is almost entirely built of professional players — the lone college player, Evelyn Shores, scored the winner on Friday.
The U-23 camp has a few members of Hayes' broader player pool: Jaedyn Shaw, Korbin Albert and Mia Fishel made the trip to Germany. While they'll be playing away from the senior squad, this camp gives this trio and other more established professionals a chance to showcase their leadership.
USWNT U23 v Germany: Jordyn Bugg finds Evelyn Shores for the game winner
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— USWNT Cuts (@ May 30, 2025 at 2:48 PM
'Think about Jaedyn Shaw, Korbin Albert — 20, 21, respectively — being accelerated from youth football to senior football without that step,' Hayes said. 'Sometimes I think we expect so much from them, and they're still inexperienced players that maybe need a little bit more time in that age group.
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'I think we need to remain patient with the squad. I've seen so much development. I always view things tactically: How well are our players understanding what we're asking, and how well are they applying it?'
Hayes praised her 'great group of senior players' who have continued to establish benchmarks for newcomers to meet. Lindsey Heaps is once again captain for this camp, while vice captain Naomi Girma returns to the national team for the first time in 2025, having previously dealt with minor injuries and a move to Chelsea. Five members of the 23-player squad have over 60 caps with the USWNT: Heaps, Lynn Biyendolo, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnett and Emily Fox.
They have been in multiple camps this year, giving some continuity in a time of heavy rotation. Even if there's some understandable desire to slow this merry-go-round of selections from window to window, it's all part of the buildup to the 2027 Women's World Cup and 2028 Olympics.
'It's a crazy time, because we're obviously missing a lot (of players), but I think it's crucial for us to see who else can be in that major player pool,' Heaps said. 'This is how it works, and how the cycle works, and I think it's given us the ability to really look at these youngsters coming up and stars coming up, which is really special.'
Unique to this camp, Hayes has called up a player who is both a rookie and an experienced leader. Lo'eau LaBonta, 32, has been among the NWSL's best all-around midfielders since the Kansas City Current debuted in 2021. Hayes previously said her staff 'agonized' over whether or not to give LaBonta her debut as part of last summer's 18-player Olympic squad, but she has now found an ideal window to bring her into the fold.
Several members of the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympic squads remain out due to injury reasons (as is the case for Trinity Rodman and Rose Lavelle), pregnancy (Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson) or both (Andi Sullivan). Hayes acknowledged these factors have undeniably altered her planning for each window.
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'I can only pick available players. People often ask me, 'Where is this player?' ' Hayes said, 'A lot of the time, they're unavailable.'
But having a player like LaBonta, who captains her club and has played at a high level for years, gives a different kind of leadership for young players to study.
'Lo'eau's situation should serve as a reminder to everyone that we watch every game and that we are invested in what you're doing, day in, day out,' Hayes said. 'Age is just a number. She's fit, she's healthy, she's someone who's always striving, and I've heard her speak a number of times. Even her self-awareness, she's someone who constantly sees that there's room for improvement in what she's doing.
'You take someone like Lily Yohannes, at 17, or Claire Hutton, at 19, there's still a gap. (LaBonta is) a way to close that, and I think she could be a good role model for Lily, for Claire.'
LaBonta has relished the opportunity. She referred to club teammates (and, now, international teammates) Hutton and Michelle Cooper as 'her babies,' a title of endearment that she extended to Yohannes when speaking in the mixed zone on Friday.
Still, she isn't here to be an extension of the coaching staff in the heart of the park. As Hayes acknowledged, LaBonta is in the mix to make additional squads moving forward. While the veteran expected a different kind of atmosphere in a 10-day camp, where, as Hayes said, 'you can't waste a session,' even LaBonta had to appreciate how it feels to participate in these windows.
'I would say what I expected, but I didn't even know until I was in it, was the level and speed,' LaBonta said.'I think at the professional level, we have Vlatko (Andonovski) coming from U.S. Soccer at our club. We're like, 'Oh, he demands standards,' but here it's just even quicker. I love it so much. I'm out there like, 'I need to bring this back to my club.' I would have loved to develop in this environment, but I'm here now, and I'm enjoying it.'
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While Hayes is undeniably a studious tactician, introducing new members with each successive window can complicate some of that coding. The game relies heavily on combinations, whether it's the relationship between the goalkeeper and their backline, how a defensive unit operates or how a midfield duo or trio works in tandem.
As such, much of the education process is ensuring each player knows their role, with the next step being to foster those relationships. Even for someone as young as Yohannes, those instructions have come through clearly.
'Emma makes it clear what she expects from me, as well as for the team,' Yohannes said. 'Every camp, we just continue to build on that. With every different opponent and different style of play, we try to adapt, and that's just something that you try to bring into a game to help the team.'
As has become customary since Yohannes' emergence, Hayes urged for patience before piling expectations onto the 17-year-old midfielder. Still, Hayes pointed out how valuable her time with Ajax has been in helping her learn how to operate against teams playing with mid-to-low defensive blocks — a defensive structure that the U.S. often faces as opponents hope to slow their progress into the final third.
Given all the changes, the World Cup still feels far away — perhaps even more distant than the 754 days between Saturday's friendly and the tournament opener in Brazil can illustrate. Still, those plans in identifying a core group of players remain on track as far as Hayes is concerned, as are the broader initiatives she and her backroom staff have undertaken to ensure that she leaves the program better than she found it last summer.
'I can't believe I've only been here a year, to be honest with you,' Hayes said. 'When I reflect on the work that's being done by so many people, it's so exciting to think, if I'm to fast forward to 2031, the work and the impact that everybody's having now for the future of the game.
'I think what we are putting together is a system so that it goes beyond just a pipeline of players. It's a support system around girls and women that I think will take our game up a notch.'
