HARRISON, N.J. -- For all the possession the United States women's national team retained against Mexico on Saturday at Red Bull Arena -- 70%, per TruMedia -- the Americans' best opportunities of the match came from transition moments when they decided to quickly play vertically to their agile front three.
Ultimately, it was a big ball played behind Mexico's defense by USWNT midfielder Rose Lavelle in the 64th minute that sent forward Trinity Rodman running toward goal. Rodman found forward Mallory Swanson at the top of the box, and Swanson swung the ball to forward Sophia Smith, who buried her right-footed shot for the only tally in a 1-0 U.S. victory.
U.S. head coach Emma Hayes called the performance "a step in the right direction," but she was clear that there is much work to be done ahead of the Olympics, which begin July 25. Despite the possession, the Americans often played direct.
"I think we rushed our play a little," Hayes said of Saturday's first-half performance. "Intention is good, so I can't fault [or] criticize the players for that, but it's teaching them the right moments when to progress, when not to progress. And then, in and around the penalty box, how to access the right spaces in the right moments at the right times. That's going to take a little bit of time."
Transitional moments remain part of "the U.S. mentality," captain Lindsey Horan said after the match, adding that the challenge is "picking and choosing the right times" to play direct, especially in the heat and humidity of an afternoon kickoff in July.
The peak of the USWNT's ability to punish teams quickly in transition came during the team's run to a 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. That team included Horan, who plays at French powerhouse Lyon and is one of the most tactically astute players for the U.S.
The game has changed significantly since then, however, and the USWNT has struggled to keep pace with a landscape of more sophisticated opponents, as evidenced by the Americans' historic exit in the round of 16 at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Hayes was hired in large part to solve these problems. In only six weeks of officially being on the job, she has explicitly said that the world is no longer catching up; the USWNT is now playing catch-up. Much of that progression centers on developing a more dynamic team capable of beating opponents in more creative ways.
Overhauling the entire identity of a program that has won four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals -- all while maintaining a similar ethos around outworking opponents -- is a yearlong project. The history of success was on display Saturday as the 1999 World Cup-winning team was honored on the 25th anniversary of that triumph.
1999 2024 pic.twitter.com/moJGwMIzlA
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 13, 2024
The U.S. won't suddenly look completely different at the Olympics, and results could be indirectly sacrificed as part of this difficult transition.
The 18-player roster is evidence of the remodeling project at hand. Eight of the 22 players heading to France (including the four alternates) have 20 caps or fewer, and only four players have over 100 caps. Croix Bethune, an alternate for the 2024 Olympics and a rookie in the National Women's Soccer League, made her international debut Saturday. Two other alternates remain uncapped.
By contrast, the 2019 World Cup roster, which leaned heavily on the previous generation of veteran players, had an average of 80 caps. The exclusion of forward Alex Morgan, and her 123 goals in 224 appearances, from this Olympic roster was the explicit final turning of the page from that era by Hayes. At a high level, those are the hard decisions she was hired to make.
Still, there is a rich dichotomy to this USWNT as it tries to evolve to reconquer the game in its modern state: Direct play cannot be the primary means of success, but it also can't disappear entirely. As Hayes said after Saturday's match, there are layers still to be added to this team. Hayes was pleased with how the team adapted in the second half, but she conceded that her squad rushed play in the first half.
"Sometimes, I think we're a little impatient," she said.
It was relatively successful at times, to be clear, which is to be expected from a forward line of Smith, Rodman and Swanson. U.S. center back Naomi Girma played a long through ball to put Smith in behind Mexico's defense 14 minutes into the match. Seven minutes later, Girma started a slightly longer sequence with a line-breaking progressive pass to Rodman.
In the second half, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher grabbed a loose ball, rolled it to Horan inside the U.S. half, and the midfielder looked up and played Smith in behind the back line of Mexico. Smith's shot was saved, but it was one of the USWNT's best opportunities up to that point, and a precursor to the goal a few minutes later. At times, playing direct worked just fine.
There lies the challenge at a macro level: This is not only how the Americans are used to playing, but what they are great at, too.
"They're extremely dynamic," Hayes said when asked about the forward line. "When we attack, it can be done really quickly, but it can't be just that. There's going to be moments we can't, and we have to be a little more indirect, switch the pitch a little more, and recognize the moments when we get locked into one side.
"There's no denying when the game opens up, we thrive. My goal is to thrive in all moments. So we still have a lot of learning to do with that as a team, as a collective."
There is notable progress in that quest to be less one-dimensional. Saturday's victory was progress from the USWNT's 2-0 loss to the same opponent in February. In that match at the Concacaf W Gold Cup, Mexico gave the Americans a dose of their own medicine, jumping on them with a relentless high press that made the U.S. uncomfortable on the ball.
On Saturday, however, the Americans never looked uncomfortable -- Mexico generated a measly 0.07 expected goals -- but also rarely looked decisive or dangerous in front of the opponent's net.
Consistent progress toward this new, more dynamic identity will take time. It's going to require more than a couple of weeks of training and just three games under Hayes (with one more Tuesday against Costa Rica before the start of the Olympics), especially considering this is a group that has undergone significant turnover since last year's World Cup.
The Olympics will be a learning experience, to some degree. A tough group that includes Zambia, Germany and Australia could make it a trial by fire. Regardless of whether the U.S. medals, making progress on the larger project -- winning the 2027 World Cup, which is ultimately why Hayes was hired -- is going to take time.
"Look, it's really hard to go from club to country with a new staff, new system, new philosophy," midfielder Sam Coffey, who will be participating in her first major tournament this summer, told ESPN after the match. "I'm really proud of how the team is taking things in stride, and I feel like every game we're taking steps.
"Obviously, today was not perfect by any means. I think it probably could have been 3, 4 [to] nothing, but we got the job done, we beat our opponent. That's ultimately the goal. But every game, whether that's growth that looks linear or growth that doesn't look that way, we're just taking steps as a group, we're learning as much as we can. We're increasing how versatile and adaptable we are, and we're just trying to get better before we get to Paris."