The USWNT got a ‘kick up the backside.’ Can the Americans learn from it?

The U.S. squad was missing some stalwarts in a 2-1 defeat, but Coach Emma Hayes still had a talented lineup that looked out of sync.

U.S. captain Lindsey Heaps, right, battles Portugal's Fátima Pinto on Thursday night at Subaru Park. (Matt Slocum/AP)CHESTER, Pa. — Twenty months still separate the U.S. women’s national soccer team from the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. Qualifying for that tournament won’t commence for another year. But in the baby-step-laden march toward those banner events, U.S. Coach Emma Hayes teased this past summer that she was ready to move on from months of rampant experimentation and take her squad to the “next phase.”

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