NEW YORK — With Emma Hayes finally on the job, the new head coach of the U.S. women’s national team faces a difficult task. She has two months to prepare her team for her Olympic gold medal. As she knows, winning is a long-standing standard for the U.S. women’s national team.
But on Thursday, at a small media roundtable that included ESPN at the National Women’s Soccer League’s offices in Manhattan, Hayes emphasized the importance of process and performance.
“If we’re performing at our best, we have a chance to accomplish something,” Hayes said, “but we have work to do. The reality is that the state of the world game is, and the rest of the world doesn’t fear the United States the way it once did, and that’s right.”
“It’s our job to quickly figure out what we need to do to get back to those levels.”
Hayes criticized the USWNT as an analyst during last summer’s World Cup, saying it would be difficult for the team to get back to the top. The USWNT won back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019, winning four of the first eight tournaments. However, in the 2023 World Cup, the U.S. team only narrowly made it out of the group. Winning an Olympic gold medal for the first time since 2012 will be a difficult task.
“Tell me a coach who’s not critical. Tell me a coach who doesn’t ask for more,” Hayes said Thursday. “I think we saw how that gap was closed last summer. It doesn’t necessarily have to be me saying that. It’s obvious to everyone.”
“I don’t always look at it as a negative thing. I think sometimes we need something in life to remind us. I always say, ‘What gets you here doesn’t necessarily get you there.’
Hayes arrived in New York on Wednesday. She is scheduled to meet with the coaching staff in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday to go over plans, ending the longest wait for a head coach in USWNT history as players begin arriving for training camp on Monday.
Hayes was hired by the United States Soccer Association in November, making her the world’s highest-paid women’s coach, but the association allowed her to finish the European season with Chelsea, a club she has built into one of the world’s best over the past 12 years.
She led Chelsea to a fifth consecutive Women’s Super League title in dramatic fashion on Saturday, beating Manchester City on the final day of the league season.
Twyla Kilgore has been the interim coach of the U.S. women’s national team since late August, and has worked with Hayes since her hiring to implement the new coach’s ideas. Mr. Kilgore had many telephone conversations with Mr. Hayes and visited Mr. Hayes in England.
Hayes said Thursday that all tactical lessons and player evaluations have been in place for a long time. She has already scheduled meetings and training sessions for June and July.
“Since then, the radio has never been interrupted. [I was hired]“I feel like I was able to quietly learn about the job without actually doing it, and I think that really helped,” Hayes said.
Now she needs to meet with her players, understand who they are as people and build trust, Hayes said, emphasizing the human interaction as one of the most important parts of coaching.
“I need to see it, feel it, be around it and get a sense of where everyone’s tactical understanding is,” Hayes said. “And between now and the end of June, [when she picks the Olympic roster]We’ll look at that group, the broader group, and the NWSL to determine which players will be on the 18-man roster. ”
The injury creates an additional, immediate challenge for Hayes.
Longtime starting goaltender Alyssa Neher will not be with the team after suffering a thigh injury in a recent NWSL game and being left out of Hayes’ starting U.S. squad.
Veteran striker Alex Morgan has been out for the past month with an ankle injury, Jaydyn Shaw recently suffered a knock during a National Women’s Soccer League match, and starting center backs Naomi Girma and Tierna Davidson have also been battling injuries for the past month.
All four players are in the squad for next week’s two games against South Korea. These will be the last two games before Coach Hayes announces his Olympic squad.
“This is a release for me,” Hayes said Thursday. “I feel energized and excited. I hope to use the experiences I have learned in the 12 to 14 years I spent away from home to bring the best version of myself to any job that requires it. Relax. I’m doing it, but I’m very excited.”
The US team won four of the first five Olympic women’s soccer tournaments, but failed to win a medal for the first time in 2016, returning to the podium at Tokyo 2020 and winning the bronze medal.