Sophia Smith pulled back on her favorite right foot before letting off a lethal far-post shot from close range. The ball cut through the humid New Jersey air before ricocheting against the back of the net, allowing the U.S. women’s national team—and the crowd at Red Bull Arena—a sigh of relief. The breakthrough goal, coming in the 64th minute, proved to be the decider, securing the USWNT a 1–0 win over Mexico on Saturday.
The result was a perfectly respectable one against a formidable opponent, while also highlighting plenty of areas of improvement for Emma Hayes’s young side ahead of the Paris Olympics. Saturday’s friendly was the first of two send-off matches for the USWNT before they head to the Summer Games.
“For the chances we’ve created, we’re not hitting the frame enough,” Hayes said after the match. “It’s teaching them the right moments when to progress and when not to progress. And then in and around the penalty box, how to access the right spaces, in the right moments, in the right time. That’s going to take a little bit of time.”
The U.S.’s lone goal came from the familiar frontline duo of Smith and Mallory Swanson. The two, along with winger Trinity Rodman and attacking midfielder Rose Lavelle, played off each other with a palpable fluidity, creating a number of dangerous chances in the final third.
“I was really happy for Soph … I thought her and Mal were so dynamic,” Hayes said. “And Trin got a little bit more space, but for me it’s execution, that’s what I will focus on.”
Smith echoed her coach’s statement, saying after the match that she wished she’d finished off a few more chances.
“The cool thing about our attacking players is we can kind of all play all over the place, move around, be dynamic and if something feels right for someone in a different space, we can go into that space and others will fill,” Smith said. “We lost a little patience in the final third. I think we get excited when we get in there, but maybe one touch too many, one pass too many.”
Finishing has been a longstanding issue for the USWNT, with the squad only scoring four goals in four games during their ill-fated 2023 World Cup run. Hayes and her team hope some fine tuning and more time together will remedy any lingering scoring woes. After all, Saturday’s match was the first outing since Hayes announced her Olympic roster, and came amid only her second camp with the USWNT.
“I think we’ve been together maybe total two weeks from last camp to this camp and it just feels like we’ve learned and grown so much in those two weeks,” Lavelle said, adding that the team has been eagerly taking in knowledge from their new coach.
Hayes has been vocal about her mission to develop young talent, fostering the U.S.’s emerging player pool while also keeping an eye on the fast-approaching Olympics. It’s clear, however, that as much as the USWNT would like to improve upon their bronze-medal finish from the Tokyo Games, success now won’t come at the expense of sustainable growth for the future. Perhaps, for that reason, it was important for Hayes to give young players opportunities, including Washington Spirit star Croix Bethune, who earned her first USWNT cap Saturday.
And as one player enjoyed her first appearance, another celebrated her 100th. The team honored goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher’s 100th USWNT appearance before the game, bestowing her with a framed jersey for the occasion. When asked about Naeher’s impact on the squad, her teammates beamed, almost all of them heaping praise on the notoriously attention-averse 36-year-old.
“I am obsessed with Alyssa,” Smith said. “She is amazing, I think everyone can say the same things about her. She is a leader in every way. She shows up every single day with the best attitude. She is such a selfless person. We see all the big saves she makes, and she is a hero in that way, but we all look up to her so much. She is the best teammate, the best friend, the best human.”
Naeher wasn’t the only one to get her flowers. The 1999 team—celebrating the 25th anniversary of its World Cup win—was also honored ahead of the match. A new USWNT era may be on the horizon under Hayes, but Saturday’s match was something of a throwback, with ‘90s classics like Cher’s “Believe” bumping through Red Bull Arena to celebrate the squad. The 26,376 fans in attendance erupted for the likes of Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain, who gathered at midfield ahead of the opening whistle.
“I know right now we are in a moment where we are trying to rewrite our own narrative and have this team talk about itself, but I don’t think we get to this unless we know our history and know our past and definitely the ‘99ers were women who pushed the envelope and basically started this whole thing,” forward Lynn Williams said. “All the things we have right now [don’t] happen without them.”
The tribute was fitting given the current state of the team, now under a new head coach and looking to forge its own identity amid a generational shift. Being in the midst of the ‘99ers and reminded of the enduring legacy of the USWNT ahead of the Olympics seems to be a powerful form of motivation. As for Hayes’s current group, there is still work to be done on the pitch. The squad showed flashes of what could be on Saturday, but, as the Olympics near, the USWNT is still a work in progress.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as USWNT Remains a Work in Progress After Win Over Mexico Ahead of Paris Olympics.
