What a whirlwind year it has been for the U.S. women’s national team. And now another international gauntlet is on the horizon.
Just 10 months ago, the USA was ignominiously knocked out of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in the Round of 16, via a penalty shootout at the hands of Sweden. A historic low, it was the program’s worst-ever showing a world championship.
Crestfallen head coach Vlatko Andonovski swiftly resigned in the aftermath. And, after scouring the world, the U.S. Soccer Federation hired arguably the biggest name in women’s club soccer to be his successor: Emma Hayes.
Despite being announced as the new head coach in November 2023, the Englishwoman had to finish out her final season with Chelsea. With a dramatic Women’s Super League title secured on the season’s final day in May 2024, she finally headed over the Atlantic to officially take up her post for a pair of June friendlies against South Korea.
With wounds still fresh, the USA must now pick itself back up and head off to this summer’s Paris Olympics in search of a medal. What color medal? Hayes herself was coy when pressed on publicly projecting her team’s target for the competition.
“My focus is on the performances of the team, I wanna get that right first,” she told The Today Show, when directly asked whether the USA would bring back a gold or a silver medal.
Next week, Hayes will name her 18-player roster, and four alternates, for the Olympic soccer competition that will get underway on July 24.
So, what blend of youth, experience, flair and robustness will she opt for? The time has come to make our very own projections at Soccer America, and deduce why these players might fit Hayes’ vision.
Predicted 18-player 2024 Olympic roster
Goalkeepers (2)
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars) 104/0 (36)
Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage) 19/0 (28)
Between the sticks there are no surprises. Alyssa Naeher‘s remarkable form for the national team includes penalty shootout heroics at this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelieves Cup.
Only an ankle injury kept her from playing for the USA against South Korea in June. The veteran has bounced back for Chicago this season after a poor 2023 had some doubting whether she could hold onto her spot. A calming and understated presence who has been in every U.S. tournament team since 2015.
Casey Murphy has long been the natural replacement for Naeher, and has done nothing to lose that role over the past two years. At over six feet tall, the North Carolina Courage shot-stopper is capable of pulling off saves that others simply cannot make.
Defenders (6)
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
Tierna Davidson (Gotham FC) 58/3 (25)
Emily Fox (Arsenal, ENG) 49/1 (25)
Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave) 32/0 (24)
Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit) 49/0 (33)
Jenna Nighswonger (Gotham FC) 9/2 (23)
Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC) 91/2 (30)
Stanford alums Tierna Davidson and Naomi Girma appear to have forged a budding partnership in the center of the USA defense and are all but confirmed to be the starters for Hayes in France. But what depth is there behind them?
With an 18-player roster versatility is key. Thus, there is a good chance that Hayes brings in Casey Krueger and Emily Sonnett to her defensive core because they can play centrally as well as other positions.
Krueger, a right back by trade, can deputize in the centerback role when needed but can also play as a left-sided outside back. She offers obstinate one-on-one defending and a significant aerial threat.
Although Sonnett was used mostly as a defensive midfielder under Andonovski, it feels as though she will be the go-to central defender off the bench for Hayes. She has been playing that position admirably alongside Davidson at Gotham FC, which will give this group plenty of cohesion and familiarity. If necessary, she can always be pushed into shielding the defense from midfield.
More experienced central defenders Abby Dahlkemper and Becky Sauerbrunn are set to be the players missing out in this department. But with Krueger and Sonnett’s form and flexibility, it is hard to make a case for that other duo.
Left back Jenna Nighswonger has quietly become one of the USWNT’s most important players over the past year. She played the joint-most minutes, along with captain Lindsey Horan, of any player during Hayes’ first two matches. The 23-year-old offers width and superb service, and currently leads the NWSL in successful crosses into the box with 10.
On the other flank, Emily Fox has long reigned as the USA’s starting right back. With a penchant for dribbling, the Arsenal defender has had more giveaways and been caught out positionally more than some others. But it’s worth the risk for what she can offer when she builds up steam.
In this projection, Hayes will not be taking any specialist left back or right back cover. Butlongtime outside back Crystal Dunn, now a forward, can always be drafted in as cover, along with Krueger and Sonnett.
Midfielders (4)
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns) 17/1 (25)
Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA) 148/35 (30)
Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC) 100/24 (29)
Catarina Macario (Chelsea, ENG)19/8 (24)
No bigger issue loomed for Hayes than the stagnation of the USWNT’s midfield under Andonovski. Lest we forget that at the 2023 World Cup, the USA started with Julie Ertz, now retired, and Sonnett, now primarily a central defender, at the base of the midfield.
Quickly the Americans need to be better at breaking down opponents who play a low block while also trying to improve their ability to wrestle back the flow of a match against better opposition who want to dictate.
Since being left off the 2023 World Cup roster, Sam Coffey has asserted herself as the lynchpin in the engine room. Her tenacious pressing game and consummate passing range has helped the USA generate more rhythm from deeper areas. Ball movement starts with Coffey. She also currently leads the NWSL for passes played into the final third with 73.
However, there is some cause for concern. A foot injury suffered last week while playing for the Portland Thorns could put Coffey’s place in jeopardy. The club has provided no update on the severity, but the 24-year-old was inactive over the weekend and could be seen wearing a soft boot.
Should Coffey miss out it presents Hayes with a challenge to find another true anchor. Korbin Albert, who is more of a box-to-box midfielder, could come in. As could Andi Sullivan, a more experienced holding player who struggled for form in 2023 but has started this season looking like her old self. But on the ball neither player offers quite the same passing range as Coffey.
Only an injury would keep captain Lindsey Horan off the Olympic roster, but finding the right spot in the XI remains a challenge. The return of the mercurial Catarina Macario from an ACL injury has meant that the most advanced midfielder role may not be Horan’s anymore.
Of course, with the tournament playing one match every three days, rotation is key. Horan, Macario, Rose Lavelle, and even Dunn could all be sharing attacking duties from the midfield. Horan offers more physical presence and link-up play, while Dunn offers more one-on-one dribbling skill. Lavelle and Macario are the best shooters from range of the quartet.
As midfields go, this is a very attacking group. The 17-year-old Lily Yohannes, a box-to-box midfielder in the mold of Sam Mewis, who scored on her debut against South Korea, could be a wild-card inclusion that might offer more defensive steel. But it feels premature that she would get the call-up.
Forwards (6)
Player (Club) caps/goals (age)
Crystal Dunn (Gotham FC) 147/25 (31)
Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave) 224/123 (34)
Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit) 38/7 (22)
Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave) 14/7 (19)
Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns) 48/19 (23)
Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars)92/35 (26)
It’s been 16 years since the USWNT went to a tournament without Alex Morgan. That was the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the Stars and Stripes took home gold.
2023 was by far the toughest year of the two-time World Cup winner’s career. Morgan scored just two goals in 15 appearances of the USA, and missed two penalty kicks — she nearly went an entire calendar year without scoring for her country.
There’s a case to be made that on current form Morgan doesn’t deserve to be on the roster. An injury plagued start to 2024 NWSL season has seen the forward manage to play just six of 12 matches so far for San Diego. And, she hasn’t managed to score in any of those appearances.
But the 34-year-old is expected to go to Paris, perhaps mostly as a bench player. She will work hard on her hold-up play and offer up being a decoy to get runners in behind.
For now, Morgan is a co-captain on this team and that leadership will go a long way as the USA tries to evolve under its new coach. 
Against South Korea in the USWNT’s last game before the squad selection, Crystal Dunn started as a forward for the U.S. women’s national team for the first time since July 30, 2017. She scored the opening goal in the 3-0 win.
Mallory Swanson missed out on the World Cup through injury but has returned emphatically. She was the USA’s most cutthroat finisher before her injury in April 2023 and perhaps is now only second to Sophia Smith in terms of being clinical in front of goal.
Smith, who has an extraordinary 15 goal involvements (nine goals/six assists) through 11 matches this season, is a guaranteed starter either as a central forward or as an inverted winger cutting in from the left side.
Like Swanson and Smith, Trinity Rodman can play wide or do plenty of damage in the box. What really sets Rodman apart, though, is her ability to press opposition players into mistakes. She’s the most defensively adept of the forward players and is relentless at tracking back.
There is no doubt that Jaedyn Shaw is the future of the USWNT but is she the present? With sheer amount of quality in the forward positions, and Macario returning from injury, the minutes available for the 19-year-old have shrunk over the past few months.
The teenager’s age belies her confidence and calm. Shaw seems well-equipped to handle the role of super sub. Her ability to read the game, and find the spaces others don’t see, is behind only Macario in this squad. Shaw lives for big moments. That difference-making DNA should outweigh a more proven track record over the years.
Alternates (4): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash) 8/0 (29), Sam Staab (Chicago Red Stars) 2/0 (27), Andi Sullivan (Washington Spirit) 52/3, Lynn Williams (Gotham FC) 63/18 (31)
Goalkeeper Jane Campbell and forward Lynn Williams, should the latter shake off a leg injury that has kept her on the sidelines for two weeks, are almost certain to be included on the alternate list. But defense and midfield cover is less clear.
Albert was heavily used under interim head coach Twila Kilgore. During Hayes’ first window in charge, Albert was a second-half sub and played 72 minutes as a starter in the two games. The 22-year-old is good in tight spaces, and offers plenty of energy in the middle of the field. But when it comes to tackling, breaking up play and experience, Andi Sullivan appears to be a more natural fit.
Sam Staab may only have just earned her first cap for the USA a few weeks ago, but it’s hard to find a more consistent American central defender in the NWSL over the past half-decade. The 27-year-old could add a lot on attacking set pieces. Both in terms of her physicality and aerial presence receiving the ball, as well as her masterful left-footed delivery.
Outside back depth remains shallow for the USA. Neither Sofia Huerta or Carson Pickett have been called up recently. Both offer more as wide defenders who like to get forward and cross the ball. Neither would necessarily improve the roster’s defensive solidity.
If you take the experienced Sullivan along with Staab, Hayes can quench her desire to have the right blend of players. This projected list would have a maximum of just three international tournament debutants (Coffey, Shaw, and Staab), with a total of 14 players from the 2023 World Cup squad retaining their places.
