We feel Emma Hayes is on your feed every single time. Yet, she deserves to be cherished. And here comes another story of Sophia Smith, the ‘Triple Espresso’ who scored goals to take her nation to an Olympic gold medal. With the 2027 World Cup in her sights, things are undoubtedly brewing in the USWNT camp.

“I think this [gold] is just the start for us,” mentioned Sophia Smith, who aims for bigger things. With a manager like Hayes at the helm, motivation comes easy. She led Chelsea to an unprecedented 16 major titles. The USWNT is the gold standard in the nation, rightfully so. With all the managerial changes since the 2012 London Olympics, the USWNT players finally found their calling cards.

The player certainly left their mark in the tournament despite all the struggles. Sophia Smith detailed the entire challenge in front of them. She explained, “I know we’ve gone through our fair share of ups and downs, but I do feel like we’ve finally found our footing and a lot of that is credit to Emma. I think she has come in and helped us rediscover who we already knew we were, but we just needed a little bit of guidance.”

Emma Hayes assists Sophia Smith by giving new role!

Before Hayes arrived, the USWNT lacked the confidence and motivation to stomp past opponents. But with the English coach’s arrival, they steamrolled past their opponents with minor tactical changes in the lineup. Significantly, Sophia Smith played a complete forward role for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL. She had to move into channels, make runs behind, and drop deep to link up with the midfielders and wingers. For the USWNT, Hayes had the perfect blueprint to unleash her.

Hayes wanted Sophia to play the number 9 role, where she stayed in the box and scored goals. That’s her primary job: to score goals! She detailed how Emma taught her to be in the box and score tap-ins and goals out of incredible movement – a fox in the box in soccer terms.

Therefore, with that move, the link-up between Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson turned effective and three players scored over three goals each. Hence, it became a masterstroke. In the meantime, Emma also values working with Sophia Smith.

Hayes mentioned, “She’s having to learn as a No.9, when to hold [her position], when to stretch, when to come short. Coaching her is so much fun because she absorbs what you say.”

The stories keep coming for Emma Hayes. She is one of the best coaches in the world and hopefully, can lead the USWNT to another World Cup in 2027.