No triple espresso, no problem: How USWNT absences allow Alyssa Thompson, Catarina Macario, more to shine

From the moment Emma Hayes took over head coaching responsibilities for the U.S. women's national team, a period of experimentation was essentially a guarantee. Hired to revamp the team after their earliest-ever exit at the Women's World Cup in 2023, Hayes has spent the months after the team's Olympic gold medal-winning run to expand the player pool, wisely taking advantage of the two-plus year run time until next World Cup to explore her options. The fact that she has had to do so without the triple espresso of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson in the mix, though, was an unexpected part of his era of experimentation.

Hayes has not been able to work with that trio since the gold medal game in Paris in August, Rodman currently dealing with a lingering back injury and Swanson and Wilson on maternity leave. Their absence was always going to be a notable one – the trio has long been considered the new stewards of the USWNT's attack-minded identity, living up to the billing by scoring 10 of the team's 13 goals at the Olympics.

In the months since they jointly played for the team, though, Hayes has been able to give a wide variety of players a chance at cracking the U.S.' attacking contingent, truly embracing the spirit of experimentation that she promised shortly after winning gold in Paris. Since the Olympics, Hayes has worked with 11 forwards who were not with the team last summer, 10 of whom are 25 years old or younger. The USWNT have scored 22 goals in 11 games during that stretch, conceding just eight in the meantime, showing early signs that the attacking depth chart is as deep as it has ever been for the team.

The USWNT's attacking ability was on full display in Saturday's 3-0 win over China, a game in which Hayes' side generated 3.01 expected goals from 18 shots against the opponents' high line that was easy to unlock at times. Hayes started Alyssa Thompson, Catarina Macario and Michelle Cooper and reaped the rewards for her decisions, each of them playing major roles in all three goals. Macario in particular had a standout outing with a goal and an assist, while Cooper also registered an assist. There was an effortless feeling to their performance at times, something Hayes said was a credit to her entire team for their months of hard work during this period of experimentation.

"When you're trying to put together so many new players as a coach, you want to make sure that every time you're with them, you're making less and less tactical corrections and this week, we've made less than we've ever had to make," Hayes said after the match. "Because Avery Patterson knows where to be [on] both sides of the ball, so does Lily [Yohannes], so does Michelle Cooper and so that, in return, means the whole group can go up a higher level because they're getting better at their understanding of that. That's the first thing."

Macario and Thompson are technically two of the more experienced members of the new-look attacking group, the former making her national debut in 2021 and only missing time with the team through injury while the latter was a member of the 2023 World Cup squad. Combined with impressive performances for their clubs, the pair are arguably the headlining act of Hayes' player pool expansion project. That is especially true for Macario, who has reps as an attacking midfielder for the national team but has excelled as a No. 9 in recent outings.

"Cat, she's being tough on herself," Hayes said. "She got a goal, her all-around play, she wanted it at a higher level and that's okay. She can aspire to that but she's a wonderful football player and we're blessed to have her so we're happy with her."

Cooper, meanwhile, has settled in nicely in her third year as a professional and now has one goal and one assist in five international appearances. She played well in a wide role on Saturday against China and though there's room for improvement, she is undoubtedly beginning to carve out a place for herself in the USWNT's attacking depth chart.

"She's a firecracker," Hayes said. "She really is. I didn't think her touch was the best today and I told her that. … I think Michelle is someone, whether she starts or from the bench, she's such a threat in behind. She's got a goal threat not just in terms of the creation but finishing and she's growing into the shirt. She brings a lot of personality and charisma to the team. She's so coachable and you can be straight up with her, as well and she'll take that and be able to pick it up and what I love immensely about her is she'll give everything for the shirt going backwards as well. When it's time to defend, do the dirty work, she's not afraid of that and [will] get stuck in."

Ally Sentnor and Emma Sears round out the group of inexperienced forwards currently on the roster, both of them also impressing in the early days of their time with the senior national team. Sentnor was the breakout of February's SheBelieves Cup and has two goals in eight appearances so far, while Sears has one goal in five caps. The pair could earn another chance to impress on Tuesday, when the USWNT close out the international break with a friendly against Jamaica.

Hayes admitted on Saturday that her work with this group was far from complete, which is understandable for a group of young players who are gaining international experiences for the first time in their careers. It is hard not to argue, though, that the U.S. are making important strides during this transitionary period, refreshing the uber-competitive nature of the national team that could make roster decisions very difficult for Hayes in two years' time.

"We wanted to be a bit more dynamic in our rotations so the timing of our rotations to pull their wide players out," Hayes said. "I thought in the first half, we did that really, really well. What we didn't do as well as we wanted to was [that] we tried to find the spaces in between when actually, the space was in behind so sometimes we overplayed. They want to give us some areas, we take them areas but I'm asking them to deliver a performance with a level of patience so I'm not going to criticize them for that. I feel like, tactically, we've gone up another level. I really feel that way. I feel that there's so many more players that are so much more in control, that were able to do more and I was pleased with the performance."