When Emma Hayes took the reins of the womenโs national soccer team in 2024, one of her first goals was to plumb the depths of the teamโs talent pool. She knew what she had on the surface with veterans such as Rose Lavelle, Naomi Girma, Lindsey Heaps and Trinity Rodman. But what about the players under them? Who could step in in case of injury, absence or a lack of form?
Twenty months later, Hayes still hasnโt reached the bottom of that pool, making this monthโs training camp in Carson an important one with World Cup qualifying looming in the fall.
โSome of the pool players are going to get an opportunity to shine,โ she said. โSome are high-potential prospects. I think about Hal Hershfelt or Croix Bethune, players who have not had a lot of opportunity with us. I get a chance to really see where theyโre at.
โMy message is these players really have to take these opportunities because they will become few and far between.โ
Hayes has given 27 players their senior national team debuts and has used 50 different starters in her 30 matches as coach. No other U.S. manager has named more than 36 starters over a similar span. And the number of debutantes could grow since three of the 26 women called up are still looking for their first international cap โ something they could earn this month since the training camp will end with friendlies against Paraguay on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park and Chile at UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 27.
Saturdayโs matinee will include a pregame tribute to Christen Press, a two-time world champion who announced her retirement last fall.
But as valuable as the continuing auditions may be, the decision to call up a roster of young, NWSL players was made out of necessity, not design. Because the camp falls outside a FIFA window, Hayes was unable to summon European-based players such as Girma, Heaps, Alyssa Thompson, Crystal Dunn and Catarina Macario. Also unavailable were Jaedyn Shaw, Jaelin Howell, Tierna Davidson, Emily Sonnett and Lavelle, U.S. Soccerโs womenโs player of the year, who will all be playing for Gotham FC in next weekโs FIFA Womenโs Championship Club in England.
U.S. coach Emma Hayes, center, speaks with players after an international friendly match against Italy in December.
(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)
โIf the European-based players and the Gotham-based players were here, this would be a completely different roster,โ Hayes said. โBut thatโs not the case.โ
Itโs also nothing new. The coach hasnโt had what she considers her first-choice roster since taking over the national team.
Injury kept Macario off the team that struck gold in the Paris Olympics, Hayesโ first tournament as coach, while forwards Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson have been on maternity leave since the Olympics. Injuries have limited Rodman, another forward, to one game over the past 18 months.
Despite that, the U.S. has lost just three of 20 games since climbing off the medal stand in Paris. So while she would prefer to start the new year with the veteran core of her 2027 World Cup roster in uniform, that didnโt happen. Instead, the 26 invited players โ among them Rodman, Angel City defender Gisele Thompson and Santa Claritaโs Olivia Moultrie โ average 24.1 years of age and 6.6 caps of senior-team experience.
โWhat Iโve learned since the Olympics is I can never, ever pick the best roster because Iโm always going to be without players,โ she said.
With the World Cup a year away, the tryout period will soon be ending. Hayes said she and her staff have mapped out how theyโd like to see 2026 unfold, and that plan includes narrowing the potential player pool to about 35 women ahead of the SheBelieves Cup in March.
โOnce we get to SheBelieves, if everyone is available to me, it will be the group that are strong candidates to be [part of World Cup qualifying],โ she said. โIt will be an extremely competitive roster.โ
Yet it will be one that still wonโt include Wilson or Swanson, who combined for seven of the teamโs 12 goals in the Olympics. Wilson gave birth to a daughter in September, two months before Swanson did the same. Hayes, who had a son in the spring of 2018, doesnโt plan to rush back either player.
โI know how long it takes to recover after having a baby. Thatโs why I donโt like putting time frames on it,โ she said. โHormones play a big part of it. And you donโt actually realize that until youโve had a baby.
โFor some the recovery is quicker than others. Depends on your age, depends on type of birth, sleep. Loads of things.โ
In the meantime, Hayes will keep dipping into the talent pool she has.
โฝ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this weekโs episode of the โCorner of the Galaxyโ podcast.