America Girls’s Nationwide Workforce beat China 3-0 on Saturday in a pleasant match in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a assured show from the USWNT and one that ought to construct confidence because the 2027 World Cup cycle attracts nearer.
USWNT coach Emma Hayes has been vocal concerning the significance of those friendlies: she makes use of them to gauge the place her gamers are of their improvement cycles, what sorts of opponents they thrive towards and the way they’ll all work collectively and enhance. With that in thoughts, let’s check out this USWNT lineup by Hayes’s eyes. Who stood out? Why? And what can we study from their performances?
Sam Coffey
Emma Hayes was tasked with fixing countless issues when she took over the USWNT teaching job final 12 months, however the first—and arguably the most important—was increasing her enjoying pool upfront of the 2027 World Cup. Hayes had veterans (Lindsey Heaps, Crystal Dunn) and prospects (Alyssa Thompson, Lily Yohannes) at her disposal, however she began her USWNT tenure and not using a stable core of prime gamers in between.
Enter Sam Coffey. The 26-year-old midfielder has emerged as a pacesetter of Hayes’s “mid-career” contingent and appears like somebody who can be part of the staff for years. She’s a wonderful defensive midfielder, one who’s equal components composed and fiery, and there is not any one else who performs fairly like her on the USWNT.
Coffey delivered a superb, conductor-like efficiency towards China, and he or she would’ve topped this checklist even when she hadn’t scored. However Coffey did not simply rating: she netted a beautiful, sudden, first-time chip that sucked the air out of Allianz Area.
“Look, I miss loads of them in apply,” Coffey quipped at halftime on the dwell TV broadcast. “It is about time I made one.”
