When evaluating an athlete, team or coach, there is always a danger in drawing overly general conclusions based on the width of a toe or a bit of luck.
So many pivotal moments in USWNT history could have gone the other way. Kristine Lilly clear a shot on goal in extra time at the 1999 World Cup. Carli Lloyd’s long-range shot in 2008 that many goalkeepers would have saved. Questionable penalties during the knockout rounds of the 2019 World Cup.
All of these moments helped the “99ers,” Lloyd, coach Pia Sundhage and set-piece specialist Megan Rapinoe build their legacy in U.S. women’s soccer.
Conversely, if Lina Hurtig’s penalty at the 2023 World Cup had been one or two millimeters closer to the goal line, we might now be cheering the continued success of the US women’s national soccer team under coach Vlatko Andonovski.
And if Mallory Swanson had been a few inches closer to the goal line when Korbin Albert passed the ball into space for her in the 2024 Olympic final, the Emma Hayes era might not have started quite so brightly.
Hayes is rightly recognized as a brilliant soccer mind. But if Swanson hadn’t scored against Brazil last week to secure gold for the U.S., or if Alyssa Naeher hadn’t put herself alongside Scurry and Hope Solo in consideration as the best U.S. goalie ever with a few extraordinary saves, Hayes would have faced a series of difficult questions.
Why wasn’t playmaking midfielder Rose Lavelle brought in for the final to help re-energize the “Triple Espresso” front line of Swanson, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman? Why leave Jaedyn Shaw on the active roster if Hayes had no intention of playing her? If Shaw was still unfit, Hayes could have kept backup Croix Bethune available.
Why did Hayes wait until the 74th minute of the Olympic final to score his goal? each changes with her tired team, most of whom had played the most minutes in two knockout games in overtime, and were clinging to a 1-0 lead? Why did struggling defenders Tierna Davidson and Crystal Dunn remain on the pitch for so long, trying to push themselves to keep up with the overwhelming Brazilian attack?
But thanks to Swanson, Albert and Naeher, the questions are a little different. And they paint Hayes in a more positive light.
How did Hayes make the right adjustments at halftime in the final after Brazil nearly ran the U.S. off the field in the first 45 minutes? How did Hayes get the Smith-Swanson-Rodman line to work as it did? How did Hayes pick the right players in the most open competition for spots the U.S. women have had in decades?
How did Hayes gain support to keep Korbin Albert in the squad after the young midfielder posted anti-LGBTQ+ messages on social media, earning him reprimands from Rapinoe? and American fans How did Hayes change the mentality of a team that barely scored against quality opponents at last year’s World Cup?
Perhaps we can answer the last two ourselves – Hayes is one of the few coaches in the world with the gravitas to manage the often unruly egos on the U.S. women’s soccer team. U.S. Soccer denied allegations that a player mutiny led to coach Tom Sermanni’s firing in 2014, but it’s been clear for years that the players had the power, not the coach.
The revelations about Albert could have blown the team apart. It’s happened before: Jaelene Daniels’ career never recovered from her decision double about her refusal to wear rainbow shirts or otherwise accept anti-discrimination measures.
Hayes stepped in to the situation and offered some Albert called “tough love.” We’ll never know whether that means Hayes sternly told Albert to keep her divisive feelings to herself or whether she made her meet with a couple of theology professors to argue her interpretation of the Bible. (Albert played collegiate football at Notre Dame, a Catholic university with a complicated but not entirely exclusive relationship with her LGBTQ+ students.)
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Or maybe Hayes just let her team know that there is a national soccer team not a collection of best friends who agree on everything. Also, national team spots are not like tenured faculty positions or appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, which are only given up if the player agrees.
Hayes knows that a national soccer team is constantly competing for spots, something made easier now that U.S. Soccer’s collective bargaining agreements no longer cap core players at annual salaries, and a point made clear when the U.S. women left for France without the out-of-form Alex Morgan. Gone are the days of Rapinoe or Abby Wambach staying on the national team indefinitely.
So maybe career-defining moments are tinged with a touch of luck. But the old axiom that we make our own luck applies here.
Hayes had the tactical acumen and player management skills to have Albert and Swanson on the roster, on the field, in the right places, and in the right system to make the play that won the U.S. women the gold medal. Without such acumen and skills, does that play ever happen in a real or alternate timeline?
The U.S. women’s position at the top of world soccer has been usurped over the past decade by nations that have done a better job of developing young talent. The chaotic and expensive youth soccer landscape in the U.S. has not helped the country’s national teams win trophies at either the junior or senior level. But the NWSL is getting better at identifying and signing top talent earlier — Swanson and Rodman both briefly attended college but turned pro before playing an official game, Shaw made her professional debut at 17, and the league has quickly filled with teenage players since courts ruled that then-15-year-old Olivia Moultrie had the right to sign with the Portland Thorns in 2021. Some players, like Albert, have opted for European contracts.
Suddenly, the American talent pool seems a lot bigger. Moultrie has two goals in four appearances for the U.S. national team. Lily Yohannes scored in her national team debut in June at age 16, though she could still shift her allegiance to the Netherlands. Bethune is 23, Albert is 20 and Shaw is 19. Eight of the 21 players on the american team There are already professionals for the upcoming Under-20 World Cup.
And they have a coach who has already shown that he can make the right decisions about the selection and get the most out of it.