{"id":6172,"date":"2026-04-15T10:55:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/6172\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:55:27","slug":"claire-hutton-starts-as-uswnt-captain-makes-history-in-loss-to-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/6172\/","title":{"rendered":"Claire Hutton starts as USWNT captain, makes history in loss to Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States reacts during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Steph Chambers\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States controls the ball during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States controls the ball during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States is challenged by Manaka Matsukubo #20 of Japan during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States reacts in a huddle prior to the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States controls the ball whilst under pressure from Honoka Hayashi #18 of Japan during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States reacts during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of the United States controls the ball during a game between Japan and USA at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Al Sermeno\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Al Sermeno\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images\"Claire<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton #15 of United States controls the ball during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at Lumen Field on April 14, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brad Smith\/USSF\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Claire Hutton made history in the U.S. Women\u2019s National Team\u2019s 1-0 loss to Japan on Tuesday in Seattle, wearing the captain\u2019s armband from kickoff to become the youngest player to start a match as captain since 2001.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Bethlehem High School graduate, 20, had previously worn the armband<\/a> after coming on as a substitute for Trinity Rodman in the second half of a January match against Paraguay\u00a0\u2014 but Tuesday was different. This time, it was hers from the first whistle.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou dream of these moments,\u201d Hutton said in a\u00a0pregame interview with TNT<\/a> sideline reporter Melissa Ortiz. \u201cSo it\u2019s cool. And just to follow in Lindsey\u2019s [Heaps] footsteps, it\u2019s just amazing. So I\u2019m super grateful and super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USWNT has only kept captain stats since 1999, but since that time, there were only three instances where a player started a match with the captain\u2019s arm band and was younger than Hutton is now: Cat Whitehill was 19 years old on March 13, 2001 vs. Portugal; Aleisha Cramer was 18 years old on March 15, 2001 vs. Sweden and Cramer was still 18 years old on March 17 vs. Norway.<\/p>\n

Hutton played the full game on Tuesday, but passed the armband to Heaps when the veteran subbed on in the 71st minute. Against Japan\u2019s elite, organized attack, Hutton controlled the tempo in midfield, recovered well defensively and stayed involved in the buildup going forward.<\/p>\n

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In the final moments of second-half stoppage time, Hutton set up Heaps for a flying side-volley that was headed towards the goal, but Heaps was offside on the play.<\/p>\n

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Throughout the match, the USWNT outpossessed and outshot Japan but couldn\u2019t find an equalizer, struggling to generate many dangerous looks as Japan clogged passing lanes. Maika Hamano\u2019s 27th-minute goal was the difference.<\/p>\n

The loss snapped the USWNT\u2019S 10-game win streak and marked their second defeat in three matches against Japan.<\/p>\n

Hayes saw it as an important step in the program’s growth as the USWNT prepares for the 2027 FIFA World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a developer of players and they need to go through these things,\u201d coach Emma Hayes said afterward. \u201cWe cannot always simply play for the result. But yes, we don\u2019t like to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It had been a winning April camp before Tuesday. On Saturday in San Jose, the USWNT beat Japan 2-1 on goals from Rose Lavelle and Heaps, with Hutton coming on in the 85th minute to replace Heaps in midfield.<\/p>\n

For Tuesday\u2019s rematch, Hayes made history of her own, turning over the entire starting lineup\u00a0\u2014 only the ninth time in program history a coach has done so in consecutive matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the whole group to experience the highest level game,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cWhat a great situation we\u2019re in to be able to put another team out. \u2026 You cannot close gaps until you identify what they are and you can\u2019t do that when you\u2019re comfortable. You absolutely can\u2019t do that when you\u2019re always the dominant side.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tuesday marked Hutton\u2019s 16th cap and 12th start with the senior national team. She made her senior debut in February 2025<\/a> and has drawn consistent praise from Hayes since.<\/p>\n

The USWNT concludes its three-game series against Japan on Friday in Commerce City, Colorado.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claire Hutton #15 of United States reacts during the International Friendly match between United States and Japan at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5731,8,3191,220,1050,3190],"class_list":{"0":"post-6172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-japan","10":"tag-latestnews","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-team-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}