How the USA prepped in advance for its 2024 makeover
Only Brazil has made more changes to its squad for the Paris 2024 Olympics compared to last summer's World Cup than the USA. But the work has gone in behind the scenes for years...
USA enter the Paris 2024 Olympics with more intrigu, questions and indeed outright potential than potentially any tournament in recent memory, when you combine all the factors.
The most successful nation in the women’s game has a new head coach, and not just any head coach, but one of the most successful in the game herself in former long-standing Chelsea head coach Emma Hayes.
They also come into the tournament off the back of one of their most disappointing overall results in sometime, exiting the 2023 World Cup last summer at the second round, and if not for the width of the post it wouldn’t have even been that.
Add in the fact they have undergone one of the biggest squad overhauls of any of the 12 nations participating in France this month and it’s a mouthwatering proposition to see what the four-time world champions can achieve over the next couple of weeks.
12 months ago, there was plenty of talk regarding the USA’s ‘demise’ and that Europe was not just catching up, but overtaking, with Spain and England playing out the final in Sydney with the USA already back home.
That though felt incredibly premature.
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Last year’s USA team was one coming to the end of an era, a very successful era, and that is emphasised by the nature of the turnover for this summer under Hayes.
Kelley O’Hara, Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz have retired, the latter two from the game altogether, while Ashley Sanchez, Sofia Huerta, Alyssa Thompson, Savannah DeMelo, Alanna Cook, Alex Morgan, Andi Sullivan and Aubrey Kingsbury have also gone.
While a huge amount of experience has evaporated, to say you shouldn’t be excited about this USA team would be wrong, with a likely looking front four of Sophia Smith, Rose Lavelle, Trinity Rodman and Mal Swanson, with the very talented Sam Coffey coming into the midfield and others such as Naomi Girma at the back growing in stature all the time, plus NWSL Rookie of the Year Jenna Nighswonger at left-back.
So, how do you undergo such a huge makeover, all while managing the expectation of a nation and a head coach whose demands for success certainly intertwine.
“What she is teaching at the senior team is filtering down to the youth teams, ensuring we have that alignment in culture, environment and playing style…”
Tracey Kevins, who has been in the US Soccer setup since 2017 and is currently both U20s head coach and Head of Youth Development, shares an insight into the work which goes on behind the scenes over a number of years.
“I think first thing is as a youth national team coach is to always be preparing players for the next level, that’s our role, our success is individual development, players who go to our senior team is huge for us, that’s our trophy if you like,” she states.
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