The U.S. women’s national team is a little adrift at the moment. The team has been playing under an interim manager as it waved goodbye to two iconic players one after the other in September, and has started integrating younger talents into the group while other big-name stars approach the later stages of their careers.
Amidst this transition period, midfielder and captain Lindsey Horan has been clear about the team’s priorities.
“We have the Olympics in one year’s time,” she said after a September friendly against South Africa. “So we don’t want to lose time.”
Depending on the outcome of U.S. Soccer’s final negotiations around the hiring of Chelsea’s Emma Hayes, as reported by The Athletic and others, Horan may not get her wish. It could very well be that Hayes would only take over the USWNT job after finishing out her season with Chelsea, which would in turn allow for extremely limited time to prep for Paris 2024.
In this potential timeline, Hayes would become available for stateside endeavors by May 19 at the earliest – that’s the day after the end of the season for the Women’s Super League, the domestic competition in which Chelsea competes. Hayes’ success in her last season at Chelsea could extend that timeline even further; the UEFA Women’s…
