United States women’s head soccer coach Emma Hayes plans to give Europe-based players a “much-needed break” this summer and instead will rely on a pool of almost exclusively domestic talent for the upcoming international window.
In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday night, Hayes said the only Europe-based player she expects to call up is Chelsea defender Naomi Girma. The vice-captain and defender returned from injury to the national team for the first time in 2025 earlier this month.
“This is the first opportunity, and the only one for them, to take a break between now and the World Cup in two years,” Hayes said, “and player welfare and rest and recovery are also important for these players.”
The USWNT has a pair of friendlies against Ireland in late June in Colorado and Ohio, followed by a match against Canada in Washington, D.C., on July 2.
The decision to rest players, Hayes said, was collaborative with input from the USWNT’s medical and performance teams. They accounted for the number of games played, lengths of players’ seasons and their frequency of games, beginning with the 2023 World Cup.
This year offers a rare respite from international competitions for U.S. national team players. World Cup qualifying begins next year, followed by the 2027 World Cup in…
