Hayes swapped all 11 players from the first game to the second game, and on Friday, the group will look much more like the first team that played at PayPal Stadium. Hayes went with experience in the first lineup, with Lindsey Heaps, Sam Coffey and Rose Lavelle in the midfield to then a very young midfield in 20-year-old Claire Hutton, 20-year-old Olivia Moultrie and 18-year-old Lily Yohannes in the second game. Heaps did enter the game in the second half against Japan on Tuesday, adding much-needed leadership between lines.
After the first meeting against Japan, Hayes said, “We have to prepare ourselves for qualifying. We don’t have a lot of windows left, so we need to get some of these players playing back together again. I think it’s important. And then the second part is, I want to play, I want to see a different side to us in the second game, with a less experienced group, and see the progress that we have made in the last 12 months.”
Following the 1-0 loss on Tuesday, Hayes compared the situation to trying to cook a Michelin-star recipe, without the secret sauce, just yet. “I think we’ve got players that have some of the recipe and they’re trying to imply it in their entirety, but it’s a work in progress, and I think if I play solely to win, we maybe don’t change a lot in these games, we play the vast majority of seniors…but that’s not where I’m at, and I don’t regret those decisions.”