USWNT Finishes 2024 Undefeated Under Emma Hayes, Focuses On Development, Patience

Emma Hayes has gone 13-0-2 in her first year as head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, including securing a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The team closed out the year with a 0-0 draw at England and a 2-1 comeback win at the Netherlands. Despite this success, though, Hayes has a number of questions to answer heading into 2025, starting with the roster.

Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher has been a cornerstone of the USWNT for nearly a decade, playing her first game for the team in December 2014. She started in goal for the States’ most recent gold medal team, the 2019 FIFA World Cup champions, and the bronze medal 2020 Tokyo Olympic team, making a total of 115 appearances on her nation’s behalf and conceding a USWNT-record 0.50 goals per match. Now, she’s retiring.

“I feel very fulfilled with what we’ve been able to do, and it takes a lot out of you, honestly,” said Naeher. “I’ve given everything I’ve had to this team, and I don’t do anything halfway… Coming off the Olympics, having the year that we had, entering into a new cycle, a new stage for this team, it just felt like I’ve kind of given everything I have to give to this team, and it just felt like the right time.”

Naeher’s dominance in net, though, has simply meant little international experience for other American goaltenders over the last eight years. The most obvious option is Casey Murphy of the North Carolina Courage, who backed Naeher up at the 2024 Olympics and has the advantage of some international experience.

However, more inexperienced goaltenders Mandy Haught, Jane Campbell and Phallon Tullis-Joyce are also in the mix. Haught, in particular, had the “best [NWSL] 2024 of any U.S.-eligible goaltender, period,” and debuted for the USWNT in October with a 3-0 shutout.

“The minute you start chopping and changing the team, the harder it is for you to carry out what you want,” Hayes said. “But I want to see the players. I don’t want to sit there and just say, ‘Well, I’m going to put all my experienced players on, develop the connections and the combinations for that now.’…I owe it to the entire playing pool to look at everyone.”

Besides 36-year-old Naeher’s retirement, the rest of the team is getting dramatically younger.

USWNT stars Alex Morgan and Kelley O’Hara, 35 and 36 years old respectively, retired this year, leaving question marks in all areas of the roster. Amid concerns about the team’s increasingly dysfunctional midfield unit, perhaps the biggest roster news of the year emerged: the commitment of 17-year-old phenom Lily Yohannes.

Yohannes spent the first ten years of her life in Springfield, Virginia, before her family moved to the Netherlands. Despite her years in the Netherlands and the interest of the Dutch national team, though, she ultimately committed to the USWNT in November.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy decision,” Yohannes told Ajax TV. “I’ve lived in the Netherlands for the past seven years. I’ve really adapted to everything here. I’ve made so many great friends and have experienced so many great things here. So I have a great connection to the Netherlands as well.”

On December 3, the 17-year-old played in the USWNT’s last game of the year – against the Dutch in The Hague’s Bingoal Stadium. Despite getting repeatedly booed by the home crowd, she factored into Lynn Williams‘ game-winning goal in the 71st minute and helped the team cap the year with a 2-1 win.

“It is a choice I have to make, and I am happy with it,” she said, acknowledging the crowd’s reactions. “I just want to continue now and just work hard to help the team and earn a place in the team.”

Yohannes and goaltending are just two of the pieces that will fall into place in the run-up to USWNT play in 2025. Hayes intends to continue tweaking designs and developing players, beginning with a “futures” training camp in January 2025 that has been extended to a pool of U23 players.

The team will have its first test of the new year when it plays Australia, Japan and Colombia at the SheBelieves Cup in February.

“We have to be patient with them and give them time,” said Hayes. “Like, we’re not competing to win a World Cup tomorrow. But we have to develop players and give them experiences, and I will not shift from that.”