“I Want Them to Suffer” – Emma Hayes Demands Tougher USWNT Stance Despite Fatigue Concerns at Paris Olympics

“No pain. No gain“ looks to be the motto that Emma Hayes and USWNT have implemented for the Paris Olympics 2024. Even though there have been complaints from the English tactician in the past over the lack of recovery days for players in the ongoing summer games, Hayes rather wants the American ladies to ‘develop‘ a habit of tolerating agony.

Of course, this mentality paid off well. Look where Team USA has come now – just one step away from winning gold. Hayes’ side clinched a narrow win over Germany on Tuesday in the semifinals, courtesy of Sophia Smith’s crucial goal in extra time. It was a similar tale for the USWNT, which saw them win the quarter-final vs Japan with Trinity Rodman’s late goal in ET. Though two consecutive wins in the extra time must have seen players suffering from fatigue, Hayes wants the team to explore their ‘pain cave.’

“I could see today that players were having to dig to the deepest place within them,” said Hayes in the post-match presser, as compiled by the Athletic. “I’ve said this all along — the reason I want to play the team together for as long as possible is because I want them to develop that. I want them to suffer. I want them to have that moment because I do not believe you can win without it.”

Three days have been given to the USA and Brazil to prepare for the finale—a day extra, to be fair. In the previous knockout rounds and group-stage fixtures, they only provided teams with one and a half days to rest, recover, and reset. On top of that, Hayes follows a unique approach, known as the ‘No-rotation policy.‘ Even though she garnered criticism over this rigid strategy, the manager won’t change her methods.

Emma Hayes remains adamant over minimal substitutions for USWNT

Throughout the 90 minutes of the quarters vs Japan, Emma Hayes made zero changes, until the extra time, where till the final whistle, she brought just three pairs of fresh legs. Many were under the impression that making substitutions earlier in regular time could have helped the team score sooner and avoid a strenuous extra time.

However, Hayes thought otherwise and argued that such changes might have been detrimental: “Minimal changes gives you the better chance to build the creativity, so I will not change anything I’m doing, even if Trin’s on a yellow card. We can’t play football like that. We just have to be prepared and deal with whatever comes with it.”

Surprisingly enough, during the Germany clash, Hayes removed Tierna Davidson just after the end of the first half. Perhaps injury concerns must have been a reason here as she made two further changes during the hour mark and one in extra time.

Meanwhile, USWNT icon Ali Krieger even felt the ladies were ‘sluggish‘ in the latter half of the game against Japan because of a lack of substitutes. However, she quickly came into defense of Hayes, insisting that such crucial matches require ‘consistency‘ and ‘momentum‘ from the team.

Regardless, we ought to believe that Emma’s rigid approach in making substitutions is a part of making USWNT stars familiar with suffering.