When Emma Hayes was appointed coach of the national team just 75 days before the Paris Olympics, no one imagined the squad would go on to win gold at the quadrennial tournament. Maybe that’s why Hayes didn’t flinch at the thought of reaching the SheBelieves Cup without the iconic ‘Triple Espresso’—Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson.

Not only did Emma Hayes tackle the absence of the attacking line, but she also took things a step further. At the opening match against Colombia at the prestigious four-nations tournament, the boss gave the captain’s armband to Emily Sonnett instead of the veteran Lindsey Heaps. On top of that, the USWNT squad arrived at the 10th edition of the SheBelieves Cup with a relatively younger side, much to the surprise of many fans. But Hayes had her reasons for building the team like that.

Emma Hayes has her veteran stars executing a crucial task for USWNT

The former Chelsea coach was heard talking about her intentions behind sending a young and relatively inexperienced squad to the tournament opening match. In a YouTube upload by the official U.S. Soccer account, Hayes revealed why she opted to leave out most of the USWNT’s veteran stars for the SheBelieves Cup. She admitted that she’s looking at the more experienced stars of the team to ensure that complacency doesn’t set in among the young squad.

“Of course, everybody wants to compete, everybody wants to perform to the best of their levels, but we sat with about five or six of the more experienced players to get them to understand where we are in our journey, and the role that they play in this tournament,” Emma Hayes said during the presser. She went on to elaborate on the responsibilities the older players were given.

“One, to be ready for themselves; two, to how to help the team so that we can close the gaps in this part of our journey, and we sat through and discussed all the challenges that will come up in camp and some of the strategies that we’re each to hold ourselves accountable to,” the USWNT boss said. Reminding the reporters that the 2027 World Cup is the bigger goal in mind of all the players, Hayes stated, “I know that there’s some really experienced heads that value that position but also getting them to understand that we’re two and a half years away from competing, I hope, for a major tournament. So we need to help close that skill gap and we need their experiences within that. So they know what they need to do.”

Considering how her gamble has consistently paid off, there is not much left to question in Hayes’ strategy.

A strategy that paid off impressively

Colombia isn’t a team to be trifled with. The team reached the quarterfinals of both the 2023 Women’s World Cup as well as in the 2024 Paris Games. They even looked the more dominating side early in the SheBelieves Cup game on Thursday. Until that is, the deadlock was broken by Chelsea’s Catarina Macario‘s corner kick in the 18th minute led to the first chance of the match. The close miss invigorated the Americans, and Macario opened the scoring after finding the net from the six yard box, taking advantage of Yazmeen Ryan’s cross. This was Macario’s first USWNT goal in three years, and for understandable reasons, she could barely hide her glee after settling the USA ahead.

Ally Sentnor, who started for the national for the first time on February 21, scored the second goal of the match with an impeccable long-range effort. She almost got her second goal of the night, but was denied by Colombia goalie Katherine Tapia in the 75th minute. Along with Sentnor, 25-year-old Tara McKeown, midfielder Lily Yohannes also made their debut at the USA’s SheBelieves Cup opener.

Looking at all the first-timers on the squad, it was natural that fans would think the USWNT wouldn’t be able to start off things the way they did. However, now that the fears have been put to rest, how do you think Emma Hayes will rally the team against Australia too? The Aussies were battered 4-0 by Japan in their first game.

Would the Aussies meet a similar fate in the hands of the American girls? Share your predictions for the match in a comment!