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Welcome to the last pre-Olympics installment of Full Time! We’ll be in your inbox the day after every USWNT appearance during the Paris Games.
As you pass the time before the tournament kicks off later this week(!), be sure to listen to today’s “Full Time with Meg Linehan” podcast, which previews all three groups. During the Olympics, new episodes hosted by Tamerra Griffin and Steph Yang — featuring Meg in France — will drop after every game, too.
Let’s go!
Bookmark This: A guide to every USWNT player
Perhaps the nicest thing a neutral observer could say about the USWNT’s recent friendlies against Mexico and Costa Rica is that they’re over now. It’s clear that these 180 minutes were used as a quasi-competitive training drill, refining patterns of play ahead of the real competition.
Now, Emma Hayes’ side is out of dress rehearsals, with the 2024 Olympics set to commence this week. The United States’ first game is against Zambia on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET (again, we’ll have a newsletter after each U.S. game!).
With the Games finally upon us, Jeff Rueter pulled together a comprehensive guide to every player on the USWNT roster. He said the exercise also helped drive home just how rapidly the player pool has turned over since the last World Cup, when he last undertook making one of these. This squad has lost a lot of collective experience and guile, but there’s something exciting about watching a new generation of players working to establish themselves on the game’s grandest stages. Keep this squad guide bookmarked to revisit throughout the tournament — it may just come in handy!
Later, we’ll have an update on Hayes’ efforts to build out her staff.
Meg’s Corner: Ready to roll in France
After a solid 24 hours of travel from Vermont to Nice, I’m installed in the south of France ahead of the group stage kicking off. While the USWNT is still a couple of hours by train away in Marseille, I’m heading to Stade de Nice tomorrow to take a look and pick up my credential.
In the meantime, the first baguette has been purchased and I got in some quick exploration to boot. We’ll hear from Hayes and two players tomorrow, so it’s going to gear up before we know it. Talk to you all soon — or, à bientôt!
Fresh Eyes: USWNT’s big-name scout
Hayes continues to assemble her team, adding Carla Ward as a USWNT scout in France for the Olympics. BBC first reported that Ward is headed to France after stepping down in May from her role as head coach at Aston Villa. While the BBC called it a “flexible role,” a USWNT spokesperson said simply that Ward would be a scout. Some takeaways on the hire:
- Ward and Hayes both made names for themselves as coaches in the WSL, Hayes at Chelsea and Ward with her years at Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Sheffield United.
- As with any coach in a new environment, Hayes is circling support around herself with those she trusts, including bringing assistant coach Denise Reddy with her from Chelsea. Reddy was Hayes’ assistant for four years there, and was also her assistant during the WPS era of the Chicago Red Stars from 2008 to 2010.
- Ward’s addition is another glimpse at how Hayes prefers to run her staff, and perhaps how much she values loyalty. Reddy came on at Chelsea after she was fired in 2019 for a disheartening 1-24-8 run as head coach of the, at the time, admittedly dysfunctional Sky Blue FC.
Ward cited the need to spend more time with her daughter when she stepped down from Aston Villa. Hayes has been vocal about her admiration for working mothers in soccer and recognizing the difficulties of being a primary parent in camp, complimenting team parents like Crystal Dunn and Casey Krueger during the two friendlies leading into the USWNT’s departure for France. Ward’s reputation as a players’ coach also aligns with Hayes’ stated ethos of approaching players as people first.
Ward’s first job as an opposition scout will be to help the U.S. navigate Zambia, Germany and Australia in Group B. Earlier this month, Hayes called Zambia striker Barbra Banda the “most in-form striker in world football.” Germany is in a state of upheaval after losing midfielder Lena Oberdorf, and Australia is still working on fine-tuning its roster without Sam Kerr, losing a July friendly against Canada 2-1.
Weekend Recap: Checking in on Summer Cup action
This weekend saw the first round of games for the inaugural Summer Cup (the NWSL and Liga MX Femenil’s new competition featuring all 14 NWSL clubs and six teams from Mexico). Organizers have called this a “groundbreaking” partnership that hopes to capitalize on soccer’s global growth.
The Cup offers teams some meaningful competition amid the league’s international break. And with the NWSL sending a record 56 players to the Olympics, it offers new talent a chance to shine on a global stage.
So far, the four matches featuring teams from both leagues all ended with an NWSL win. The lone match featuring two Liga MX sides, Tigres and Pachuca, ended 4-2 in favor of Tigres. Some other notes to get you caught up:
- The competition’s rules led to two penalty shootouts (there’s no extra time), giving viewers some dramatic scenes in the Pride-Courage and Gotham-Red Stars matchups. Orlando, which has had a historic NWSL season, was without many of its stars and fell in its shootout with Chicago. Gotham, who was without star keeper Ann-Katrin Berger, ended the Cup’s first round with a win.
- But the matches weren’t all so even. The Portland Thorns toppled a much-weaker Club Tijuana side 5-0, with NWSL vet Christine Sinclair opening scoring in the 4th minute.
- There’s still plenty of soccer to be played, with matches resuming Friday. The tournament will run through a semifinal round on Aug. 6 and conclude with a final on Oct. 25.
The competition will surely have its share of growing pains as it continues. What’s most exciting, though, is the opportunity to expose viewers to a new league. There’s a rivalry budding between the U.S. and Mexican national teams, and now fans have the chance to translate that buzz to the club level.
Full Time First Looks
Thorns confirm Gale as coach: Portland removed the interim tag from head coach Rob Gale’s title after he assumed the role in April.
- The team had said it would conduct a global search to replace Mike Norris, who was elevated to a new role in the front office amid a restructuring, but it turns out the preferred candidate was already in-house.
- In 12 games under Gale, Portland has gone from its worst-ever start (no wins!) to fifth in the league with an 8-3-5 record and 27 points.
Progress for Aston Villa Women: Villa Park will become the main home ground for Aston Villa Women in the upcoming season, including all 11 of the team’s Women’s Super League fixtures.
- The 42,640-capacity stadium hosted five WSL matches during both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns, but Villa’s main home was League Two side Walsall’s Bescot Stadium (where Villa will still play their Continental Cup and FA Cup fixtures in 2024-25).
- Villa is among the first WSL sides attached to a Premier League club to make this type of move.
Finally, a little Full Time exclusive: Emily had a, uh, timely chat with Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman of the United States, at the USWNT’s sendoff game against Costa Rica in D.C. last week.
A highlight: “The equity piece — not only pay equity, which was been well-publicized — I’ve learned so much meeting with the players and talking to them,” he said. “It’s training equity, it’s travel equity, it’s accommodations equity and it’s media rights equity. There’s so many things that are going in the right direction that we still need to make sure that we’re elevating so that there truly is parity.” Emhoff also said that VP Kamala Harris, a noted basketball fan, is “becoming more interested in soccer” and watches with him when it’s on
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(Top photo of Mallory Swanson: Geoff Burke / USA Today)
