United States

At USWNT camp, 'vibes are high' around incoming coach Emma Hayes

Published Dec. 1, 2023 3:07 p.m. ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – There's a different vibe at the U.S. women's national team camp this week, and it's easy to understand why.

New head coach Emma Hayes, who won't take over the squad until the conclusion of Chelsea's season in May, paid U.S. players and staff a short visit here. During her four-day stay, Hayes addressed the team in person. She's been focused on building relationships with players and even cracked a few jokes, showing she's already pretty comfortable in this role.

Hayes' presence alone injected much-needed excitement into the group. Any time a player talked about meeting her or getting the chance to be coached by her soon, their faces lit up.

"There definitely is this kind of strange energy that's just a bit unfamiliar," Midge Purce said Friday. "I think every time the cycle changes and there's this much transformation and transition, there's just a new energy. But this one does feel a little bit different than the last."

Or as Lynn Williams put it, the environment this week has been "electric" and "vibes are high."

Or as Mia Fishel, who plays for Hayes at Chelsea, said, "I feel more of a seriousness about the team. I think that this new shift and kind of the way of Emma Hayes – just her name – has stirred this camp and [impacted] how we've been playing so far."

This is certainly an adjustment from the past few months. The September and October camps were filled with uncertainty as U.S. Soccer and sporting director Matt Crocker were fully engaged in the process of finding the team's next head coach. Meanwhile, the squad was still processing the disappointment from the World Cup while simultaneously celebrating retiring legends like Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz and bringing new and young players into the national team environment.

There was a lot going on.

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U.S. Soccer announced Hayes would be the next coach two weeks ago, and now there's a sense inside the camp that there's finally a clear direction moving forward into a busy 2024 and beyond. Next year, the USWNT will play in the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup as well as the Paris Olympics, where the U.S. expects to win its first gold medal since the 2012 Games in London.

Hayes will only have two months coaching the team full-time before the Olympics begin in July. But she, along with Crocker and interim head coach Twila Kilgore, have formed a plan for how this transition will work.

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Kilgore is working closely with Hayes, even though she will be in London, to start implementing tactical and technical changes on and off the pitch. Kilgore hinted on Friday that some of those things they've been working on as it pertains to possession, player combinations and "the freedom to try some new ideas" could be revealed in upcoming friendlies against China. The first match is Saturday in Fort Lauderdale (3 p.m. ET on Peacock) and the second is Tuesday in Frisco, Texas (8 p.m. ET on Peacock).

Kilgore will be in frequent communication with Hayes through the end of Chelsea's season and the two coaches will collaborate on roster selection, strategy, team identity and more.

While an arrangement like that may seem challenging and chaotic – especially with Hayes needing to be focused on Chelsea's season – Kilgore said it's actually not.

"It's felt really natural in some ways and I think it's just how we are as human beings," Kilgore said. "I just feel like I've known her forever already. It's been a really smooth and easy transition. And maybe from the outside it could look hard to figure out how that's going to work, but it's really easy to collaborate and be open and share with her on both a human and professional level."

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That feeling has had a trickle-down effect on the players, who have been informed about how all of this will work. And that's created palpable excitement that hasn't been felt within the team for a while.

"I think it feels like after the [World Cup disappointment] this summer that we've fallen off," Rose Lavelle said. "But I think we're hungrier than ever to get back to where we know we can be.

"... I know it's the end of the year, but it feels like the start of something new. I think she's gonna bring so much to us on the field, but also just culture-wise and getting us all on the same page messaging-wise and what we want to do. I keep saying [it's like we are] reinventing ourselves and having a new identity and pushing beyond what I think we even thought was possible. I think she's gonna bring the whole gamut and bring everybody along with us."

There's more to come as the Hayes era begins.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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