USWNT head for Paris Olympics with question marks in attack

United States women’s national team boss Emma Hayes said she wanted better decision-making and execution in front of a goal against Costa Rica in the Americans’ final match before departing for the 2024 Olympics.

Instead, she got a scoreless draw in which the USWNT took 26 shots and held 80% of the possession against a Ticas squad that played in an ultra-low block — a 4-2-3-1 “Christmas tree,” Hayes noted after the match — that clogged channels and demanded a precision from the Americans that never came.

“Listen, if you play a game of percentages or law of averages, we’re creating more and more high-quality chances and we’re getting numbers into key areas, we’re getting touches in the key areas,” Hayes said after reading an Opta stat about her team’s 67 touches in Costa Rica’s box without scoring.

“The last part’s the hardest part. And I’m really patient, because I’ve coached teams that have to break blocks down, and it’s the hardest thing to do in coaching. If we didn’t create situations tonight, yeah, I might say something different, but I really love the intent of the team. We kept going with it.”

Despite the statistical domination, the USWNT produced fewer expected goals against Costa Rica (1.82, per TruMedia) than in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Mexico (1.94), the “last game” to which Hayes was referring.

Tuesday’s game was played in oppressive heat (the heat index at kickoff was 106 degrees Fahrenheit), and it was a send-off match, which can often produce some outlier performances from teams. Still, the lack of final product from the USWNT over the past 180 minutes is a concern not in a vacuum, but because it is a reminder of problems of yesteryear.

The Americans struggled to connect heading into last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, and the issues that were portended in the buildup to that tournament played out as the U.S. exited in the round of 16 for its worst finish at a major tournament. That was a different team, with a different coach — and Hayes’ goal is long-term development — but the question of when things will click in front of net remains a fair and pressing one a week ahead of the Olympics.

There is plenty of individual talent on the roster, an undeniable truth about the 2023 World Cup squad, too, and there have been moments of magic by the collective group.

A late-game combination from Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith moments after the trio entered the field in the June 4 victory over South Korea serves as evidence of this. All three of those players remain in MVP-caliber form for their National Women’s Soccer League clubs.

For the USWNT, combination play remains a work in progress not just among the front three, but for the collective. The USWNT’s best moments in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Mexico came in transition. Evolving that ethos will require more time than the four games the USWNT has had under Hayes prior to the Olympics.

“Yes, we need to be more clinical, I don’t need to state the obvious,” Hayes said. “But I think that when you’ve had maybe half a dozen training sessions in total since I’ve been the coach, I think it’s a pretty good return so far.”

Midfielder Rose Lavelle was a late scratch from the lineup after warmups Tuesday due to what U.S. Soccer called “leg tightness.” Lavelle’s creativity in tight spaces was sorely missed against an opponent’s low block, an evergreen statement applicable to many matches from recent years. Lavelle’s rise with the USWNT in 2017 coincided with the USWNT’s inability to solve low blocks at the 2016 Olympics.

Korbin Albert swapped in for Lavelle and played in an attacking midfield role alongside Lindsey Horan, and the U.S. probed but never broke through.

Rodman, Smith and Swanson each turned the corner on their defenders to get to the endline within the opening 12 minutes but found opposing bodies — or the hands of goalkeeper Noelia Bermúdez — in the way of their crosses or shots.

The most cohesive attacking moment of the first half and perhaps the match came in the 37th minute, when a series of USWNT passes down the left side ended with defensive midfielder Sam Coffey lobbing a ball to the back post for Horan, whose lunging right foot made contact only to see the ball softly bounce off the near post.

It was a rare attack down the left side for the USWNT. Jenna Nighswonger, who has emerged as the team’s starting left full-back, was absent from Tuesday’s match as part of load management ahead of the Olympics. No player has risen to more prominence in the Hayes era than Nighswonger, whose first call-up came in the late November camp that followed the appointment of (but not the official arrival of) Hayes to the squad. She had started eight of 11 USWNT matches this year coming into Tuesday. In her absence, the USWNT changed course.

The Americans frequently build possession with Nighswonger pushing high on the left side in a quasi-winger role when she is on the field. Without her on Tuesday, however, the Americans leaned drastically toward the right side, so much so that the average position of Swanson — who started the match as the left winger — was well inside of Smith in the opening 45 minutes.

The #USWNT often favors a left-side buildout with Nighswonger, but they are overloading the right side so much tonight (without her) that Swanson’s average position is actually so far inside of Smith’s that they’ve inverted. It’s not entirely new, but it’s far more pronounced. pic.twitter.com/KNa414lf9H

— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) July 17, 2024

“It’s so on,” Hayes told right full-back Emily Fox early in the first half, as picked up by TNT’s microphone. Hayes was talking about the ball to Rodman in wide areas. It was on, as were other opportunities, but the USWNT’s final product lagged again Tuesday.

Hayes switched to a 3-5-2 in the second half to try to find more pockets in the attack, and the USWNT looked livelier but still couldn’t find a breakthrough.

Caution and context are especially required in send-off games. There’s an awkward mix of experimentation and safeguarding against injuries — set against the potential anxiety players feel ahead of a major tournament — that almost makes the result feel secondary.

All those unusual circumstances ostensibly make for more bland matches. There have been poor send-off games before, including a scoreless draw with South Korea ahead of the 2015 World Cup. The U.S. won that tournament, the first of two straight World Cups.

The landscape has changed drastically since then, as Hayes has regularly reminded the world. The Americans are not the favorites at this Olympics, and a group of Zambia, Germany and Australia will challenge them every step of the way. There have been plenty of signs of progress under Hayes, counting her time overseeing the team from afar in the spring alongside interim coach Twila Kilgore. Hayes pointed to the variety of challenges they have faced recently, from Mexico’s individual marking to different defensive blocks.

As Hayes said again Tuesday, however: “We have to be patient.”

Tuesday was another exercise in that challenge.

“Playing against low blocks for any team in football is the hardest to do,” she said. “I think for us, it’s being mindful that if we keep creating chances in the right area, keep getting numbers in the box, keep getting as many touches as possible in that area, those goals will come. That I’m sure of.”