The U.S. women’s national team wrapped up its annual January camp with a pair of lopsided victories against Paraguay and Chile and set the stage for the year ahead.
Head coach Emma Hayes meticulously mapped out the 2025 calendar year with intentionality. Generating the “WNT way,” a 360 women’s athlete approach to the USWNT player, expanding and evaluating the player pool, and relaunching the once-dormant U23 USWNT side, were each very specific builds toward 2026.
Now, with World Cup qualifiers set for November 2026 with the Concacaf W Championship, each camp is a step closer to finalizing a roster for the important tournament, as year two of the Hayes era is well underway.
January camps were almost an extension of 2025’s makeup. While forward Trinity Rodman was the most capped player on the roster with 47 appearances, the rest of the training camp was a chance for less-capped players to make their mark and force the coaching staff into tough decisions and remain part of roster conversations in 2026, or even beyond.
“It’s always about working backwards. Our job is to get the team in a position, come World Cup qualification, that we’ve achieved the things we’ve set out to do,” Hayes said about planning 2026.
“Well, what are those things? From, always a tactical perspective, first, like, what do we want the team to be able to master? Then, obviously, breaking it down in the volume of interactions we have. Then the detailing around how we achieve that through our session planning, how we achieve that through our classroom stuff, and how we achieve that in-between, so we have a clear road map for that.”
A pair of victories to kickstart 2026
While last year’s January camp contained no friendlies, it was the launch pad for a whirlwind of player evaluations for manager Emma Hayes and her staff. This year already has SheBelieves Cup matches on the horizon and a trio of friendlies against Japan, which is all part of the plan for 2026 to provide different layers of adversity for the team ahead of World Cup qualifiers and the eventual 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“This window in particular is, I’ve stated this before, we have a minimum of 17 possible players that I think will be in contention for SheBelieves that are not here. Okay, so which, which six to eight players are now competing from this group to join that?” said Hayes. “So, it gives us a chance to actually really look at which ones are much closer to competing with the team in preparation for qualifications and which ones are not, and lay out their individual development roadmaps.”
The development roadmaps Hayes wants to help provide players could lead to a destination further away. She’s having open conversations with players about their possibilities, whether that’s for 2027, the 2028 Olympics, or beyond to the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup. All the while trying to remain honest with them about the potential for things to always shift, that if there’s a landmark for 2031, that doesn’t mean road bumps won’t pop-up, and they’ll have to be ready if that happens.
“There’s still X amount of months, it’s probably 519 days until the World Cup. So, with that in mind, we’ve got to give ample opportunity for any player outside of here to hear the message from me that, ‘listen, this is not set, but we do have to push forward with a core group,’ which SheBelieves will be about.
“I want to create as many adverse situations for the team [as possible], so quality, diverse opponents. Here [January], SheBelieves, Japan … We’re going to be playing higher-level opponents. But a year on, the demands will be greater in terms of the expectation, but more in relation to getting closer to the game we want to play, as opposed to just [being] focused on results,” Hayes explained about her year planning.
Building the house on the foundation
During the January camps, Hayes didn’t shy away from metaphors to describe the team’s state or the direction she’d like to take next. She mentioned the team could look “a bit clunky” in their first match against Paraguay, and they did, for 44 minutes, then they defeated the South Americans 6-0, and then went on to beat Chile 5-0 to close out the window.
Hayes also mentioned that when in camp, she speaks about building a home and “getting the framework right.” Referring to the team’s principles as “structural engineering” so that you can eventually decorate the house, or in the team’s case, be more fluid. Whether someone is making their second, third, or tenth cap, players can eventually get on board with each phase of the homebuilding.
“Being clear after this camp, as we get into SheBelieves, it’s locking in now to qualification. This window is about identifying which players we think will be key to that group, or that core group. Then it’s which players are going to be instrumental to that pool. Then, which group are for 2028, and which ones are for 2031. So, I think it’s doing two or three things all at once, but that’s what development is. But I have a really good idea of the pool. I know which group of players we’re going to be building around in the build-up to World Cup qualification,” Hayes said.
Despite the pressure chamber of challenges that come with performing on the senior team, Hayes’ honest approach with players about expectations has allowed for room to set expectations and to have fun. On Tuesday night, she was encouraged by Trinity Rodman to participate in a goal celebration, and by the time of her postgame conference, Hayes was looking ahead.
Onto the core of qualifications
The SheBelieves Cup begins on March 1, and the squad will face Argentina, Canada, and Colombia. The group will then face Japan in April for three consecutive matches; it’ll be the first time the program has faced Japan three times in a single international window.
There’s yet to be any matches announced for the Type 2 June window, but there’s some expectation as the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup takes over the summer on June 11, occupying several soccer markets, and then a final window in October — ahead of the Concacaf W Championship for women’s World Cup qualifying.
“I think this [January camp] has certainly opened up the year with what we’ve identified as the key themes to take us through to qualification. I think this camp has given us the reference points to be able to say those are the things we need to add to go to the next level. These are the things we’re looking for, and for the players that can’t come back in for SheBelieves? It will be really clear what that looks like. So we have the chance to play that out, but it also is an opportunity,” Hayes summarized.
“Whether there’s players that are on the cusp in that pool for 27′ and they’ve shown, not only are they competing, but by sometimes not having all that experience in front of them, they’re getting the opportunity they might not have ordinarily got. So, while we want to provide high support, there is a high challenge environment. The realities are to cut it at the very top, we can give you all the support, but you’ve got to perform. That’s the realities of it,” she said.
With potentially four more training camps before World Cup qualifiers to close out the year, Hayes and her staff will continue to support development while making player core decisions. Whether or not certain players move forward as part of the core pool towards qualification, the program is in good standing at the senior and U23 levels.
“I think in both games, the team, regardless of its inexperience as a collective, regardless of the connections that are there because they haven’t played together before, I think we showed an awful lot, a lot of maturity in the performance [in January], and that’s all I can ask from them. They always do me proud, but I’m impressed by everybody’s approach.”
“It also is an example of why the under-23 program works. Because if you’re Jordan Bugg, you’re Riley Jackson, Maddie, Darlene, Jameese Joseph, for example, can just slot in. You understand the way we want to play, because [coach] Heather [Dyche] and her team are doing some of that groundwork, so it’s seamless to transition. That was the aim of our under-23 program, and I think it’s paying dividends.”
