For the U.S. women’s national team, the SheBelieves Cup marked an end and a rapidly approaching new beginning. It was the last game of Twila Kilgore’s tenure as the interim head coach before she transitions to becoming Emma Hayes’ assistant, a seven-month period in which she was tasked with overhauling the player pool as the USWNT adjust to a new world order in women’s soccer.
It’s a fairly small period of time but Kilgore and company fully embraced the era of experimentation, introducing new faces and ideas and successfully expanding the player pool. It made Tuesday’s SheBelieves Cup final, which the USWNT eventually won after a penalty shootout with Canada, a fitting end to the months-long exploration — it was clear which players had a lock on their positions, which players were on the bubble and which are maybe out of the picture for the Olympics.
As the countdown to Hayes’ arrival ahead of her first game in charge on June 1 begins, here’s a look at the players who bolstered their arguments at the SheBelieves Cup — and which ones may have work to do before the Olympics begin.
Stock up: Sam Coffey
The USWNT’s midfield has felt unresolved for several years now and even two months ago at the Concacaf W Gold Cup, it still felt like the answers were far away. After the SheBelieves Cup, though, the team’s midfield picture might finally be clearing up, in large part because Sam Coffey has stepped up to the plate.
Her journey to the lineup has been a slow build. The NWSL standout has been on the USWNT’s bubble for some time but struggled to break through, hitting stumbling blocks like a poor showing in the team’s 2-0 loss to Mexico at the Gold Cup. Coffey seems to have successfully treated all of it as a learning experience and acted as a strong anchor for the midfield in both SheBelieves Cup games, especially in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Japan when she assisted Jaedyn Shaw’s goal. She might just be a frontrunner to start in midfield now, especially considering her ability to be flexible with the personnel around her.
Stock down: Korbin Albert
Versatile midfielder Korbin Albert came out of the Gold Cup with a case for being another mainstay in the USWNT’s new-look midfield, starting all but one game in their title-winning run. At the SheBelieves Cup, though, Albert managed just brief cameos off the bench and did little to make her case while doing so.
Whether it has to do with the team’s increasing depth in midfield or her discriminatory social media activity that caused a stir before the SheBelieves Cup began, the fact that Albert was unable to get on the field much in two high-caliber preparation games signals that she has fallen down the pecking order. The extra dose of bad news for Albert is that the midfield trio Kilgore opted for instead was a fairly effective one, inspiring a lot of optimism as the USWNT rebuild in time for the Olympics.
Stock up: Mallory Swanson
Mallory Swanson is poised to be the future of the USWNT’s attack, but in her first national team appearances since tearing her patella tendon a year ago, she proved that she is very much crucial to the team’s present.
Swanson’s fitness is clearly tracking well with the race to compete for a spot at the Olympics, playing around 120 minutes over the course of two games in quick succession. What’s even more encouraging, though, is that she seems to have picked up from where she left off. She generated plenty of shots for the U.S. during her time on the pitch and though she was unable to score, Swanson seems poised to take her rightful place as the focus of the USWNT’s attack sooner rather than later.
Stock down: Olivia Moultrie
Olivia Moultrie seemed poised to break out at the start of the USWNT’s Gold Cup run, scoring twice in the USWNT’s 5-0 win over the Dominican Republic. However, she slowly earned less playing time as the team made their way to the final and did not play a single minute during this month’s SheBelieves Cup. It’s particularly notable considering a spot on the field was open for her since Rose Lavelle missed the games with an injury, but Moultrie was never selected to play the part.
It’s far from the end of the road for the 18-year-old, who has obvious potential and plenty of time ahead of her to earn a spot on the USWNT. A ticket to Paris for the Olympics feels like a long shot at this point, though, considering the players ahead of her right now.
Stock up: Jaedyn Shaw
It’s almost cheating to say Shaw’s a winner of this month’s games because she has already arguably proved that she’s undroppable, but the 19-year-old showcased a new layer of her game at the SheBelieves Cup. She spent the majority of her minutes this month as a 10, a role she took in Lavelle’s absence and one that allowed Swanson to get on the field. It was a tactical choice that paid dividends, allowing Shaw to play a big role in both games.
She scored her seventh national team goal against Japan and assisted Sophia Smith’s first against Canada and played a big pass en route to her second. Shaw was able to showcase a wide range of skills this month, changing the question from whether she should start to where she should. She made a convincing case to play in midfield alongside Coffey and Lindsey Horan, giving Hayes plenty to think about once her preparations for the Olympics are underway.
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