The U.S. women’s national team is back on top of the world after winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now, head coach Emma Hayes has three full years to refine the squad so the Americans can make a run at a fifth World Cup title. Who will she enlist to lead that charge?
Some answers are right in front of her. The USWNT’s sensational forward line — Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson — is relatively young and just thrived at the Olympics despite limited time together prior to Paris 2024. Center-back Naomi Girma is only 24 years old and already “the best defender I’ve ever seen,” Hayes said during the tournament.
Still, there are questions to be answered about both personnel and the team’s tactical evolution — and the reality is that players in form right now might not still be by the 2027 Women’s World Cup. As Hayes said shortly after starting the USWNT job in May: “What got you here won’t get you there.”
Now, that phrase applies to the next World Cup. As players return to their clubs — most Americans play in the NWSL, which resumes this weekend after a long break — the process of building toward the World Cup has already begun. If new players are going to make an impact, they need to break through and begin getting…
