2025 has been a year of flux for the US Women’s National Team. The side has experienced ups and downs as manager Emma Hayes has implemented a process for refining tactics, personnel, and team culture. It will be difficult to evaluate how successful she has been at this stage, but the last friendly window neatly captures where things stand. In the last three matches the team opened with a shocking loss to Portugal, bounced back with a determined win in a rematch, and then trounced New Zealand 6-0 in a vintage performance.
The games reflected the state of the team this year. In the first game, a veteran group put forward a disjointed performance that signaled that a change was needed. The win against Portugal saw a younger group step up with several veterans to right the ship and the next game against New Zealand showed that the most inexperienced lineup fielded in a generation is eager to bring the team forward into the new year.
With the final two friendlies against Italy, the team will once again have a mix of veterans and young players but some key names are once again in the locker room to finish the year. Naomi Girma is back and her presence will anchor the backline and hopefully add to the cohesion the team displayed in the wins against Portugal and New Zealand. In midfield Lilly Yohannes will join Lindsey Heaps and Rose Lavelle to give options in creating the engine for the team and on the forward line Cat Macario, Emma Sears, Olivia Moultrie, Alyssa Thompson, and Jaedyn Shaw will provide options to create and score chances.
One of the key questions that is looming over the team is how to create the cohesion that was missing in the opening loss against Portugal. Finding a way to get Heaps and Lavelle to combine their talents in a balanced way that not only creates chances from possession but also allows the team to play in a cohesive way will be key in this window. Heaps’ leadership is crucial but her performances for the national team have at times been lacking and Hayes will need to make a decision about her role on the team going forward. A good showing against Italy will go a long way in keeping her in the lineup. For Lavelle, her creativity and skill is unquestioned, but balancing her individual brilliance with teamwork will be critical if losses like the one to Portugal are to be avoided.
The Americans will have their work cut out for them. In many ways, this is nothing new in this year of process for the team. Young players will need to fit in with veterans and the team will need to play in a cohesive way. Hayes obviously wants to attack but how the team applies that has varied between building from the back to hitting fast on transitions. However the team goes forward she will be looking to see how developing players apply what she asks them to do while evaluating how veterans fit their game to youngsters.
As for Italy, the team is not particularly interested in building possession and is much more focused on staying compact in defense and hitting on the counter. The side plays a 3-5-2 formation typically and likes to move the ball up field quickly with speed and vertical play. That has been successful for the team as they ran to the semi-finals in the Euros. Italy is an up and coming side who is capable of beating any team on its day. With the USA still going through the process it set out to begin the year, the team will need to put forward a cohesive, strong performance to come away with a win.