The discourse around the US women’s national team may have been a harsh one if not for a fourth-half surge against Spain. In the latest of their back-to-back bookings, where Emma Hayes’ team plays the same opponent twice, Spain looked far more confident and effective than the four-time champions. Both teams were missing a handful of crucial players; Naomi Girma and Sam Coffey headlining the US’s absentees, while Aitana Bonmatí, Mariona Caldentey and Clàudia Pina were among Spain’s.
Nonetheless, Spain controlled the game and forced the US to settle for scraps in the final third. The first game saw Spain rush to a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes and maintain that margin for the rest of the match. On Tuesday, the US once again entered half-time facing an identical deficit.
It wasn’t until Hayes made five changes in unison that they regained a foothold in the latter match and clawed back two goals from direct, incisive attacks. That’s hardly a title-winning blueprint, and not just because a World Cup limits teams to five substitutions instead of the eight the teams agreed to for these games. This month, Spain’s alternates slotted into the lineup and executed the game model because of holistic familiarity.
Each player understood what their role was after meticulous refinement, and the team around them continued to operate as expected as a result. This kind of synergy can be enough to beat a more talented team, and long gone are the days where the United States can expect to beat another top women’s national team on talent alone. Hayes has not, at any point, implied otherwise.
And so, her staff has been immensely thorough in working towards building the best 26-player roster they can. This year, like 2025, was a year of deep talent evaluation. The October window saw four players included without previous caps, as well as returns to the pitch for longtime absentees Mallory Swanson and Ashley Sanchez, whose goals earned the US their draw on Tuesday.
Kate Del Fava and Pietra Tordin became the 33rd and 34th players to debut since Hayes assumed her post in mid-2024. The efforts have made the pool deeper, but the duration and density of this search may be coming at the cost of that crucial synergy. A well-organized midfield is borderline mandatory to win a World Cup.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
