Sam Mewis Critiques Key Flaw in Emma Hayes’ Attack Despite USWNT’s Front Three’s Strong Performance at Paris Olympics

The USWNT is absolutely killing it lately! Their attack, featuring the awesome trio of Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, and Mallory Swanson, is just on fire—so much so that Sam Coffey even compared them to Michael Jordan! And honestly, it’s not hard to see why. Each of them has scored three goals at the Paris Olympics and they make a solid case for being the best on the field right now. But as the saying goes, nothing’s perfect, and ex-USWNT star Sam Mewis has pointed out the one flaw in USWNT’s attack under Emma Hayes.

Sam Mewis recently chatted with Midge Purce on The Women’s Game YouTube channel about their big win over Germany, which secured a spot in the Gold Medal match. You can tell she’s super pumped since it’s been a while—the last time they were vying for gold was back in 2012! While she praised their killer front three, she pointed out one little hiccup: they need to work on receiving the crosses in the box.

She mentioned, “Our runs in the box for crosses are kind of late.” Basically, even though Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, Rose Lavelle, and Crystal Dunn are wide open for crosses when they play, they sometimes leave the middle area looking like a desert. Sam didn’t hold back either; she straight up stated that “the central players can’t keep up.”

Continuing her critique Sam Mewis added, “If they get that cross off too soon, then the runners are behind them because they’ve been on a full sprint breaking free and those central players are slow to catch up and make that run in the box.” She also urged the squad to really go for it and get right up front in goal. Moreover, Sam feels they need to step it up because the other team is easily clearing those crosses out of their box.

Before the big face-off against Brazil, Emma Hayes should reflect on these important factors. And speaking of critiques, Sam isn’t alone—Carli Lloyd has jumped in too with her own unique take on what’s lacking in the current USWNT lineup!

Carli Lloyd gives her own critique of USWNT’s squad

Finding someone as bold as Carli Lloyd is a rarity. She’s never been shy about sharing her thoughts! With all the buzz around Emma Hayes and her picks for the USWNT squad, Carli thinks something is missing in the mix. In an interview, she pointed out that they could really use some game-changers like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Abby Wambach.

She mentioned, “There’s always been that one or two players that could really change the dynamic of a game in an instant. We don’t really see that in this squad.” But hey, so far it looks like Team USA hasn’t needed an extra spark during the Paris Olympics.

Whether these gaps are flaws or just Emma’s sheer genius will be revealed when they go up against Brazil for that gold medal. So let’s hang tight and see how this plays out!