Following a first year on the job defined by tactical evolution and stone-turning evaluation — plus a run to Olympic gold — U.S. women’s national soccer team coach Emma Hayes said before a 3-o win over Canada on Wednesday night that her squad was ready for the “next phase.”
With the World Cup in Brazil two years away, Hayes has given 24 players their international debuts in her first 25 games in charge. Missing her vaunted “Triple Espresso” front line — Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson are on maternity leave and Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman is managing a back injury — she has tried out myriad attackers since the Paris Olympics.