The United States duked out a rather tepid 0-0 game against England at Wembley in front of 78,346 fans. The U.S. women’s national team looked like a team of players mostly out of season and preparing to hunker down for some time off. There were flashes of excitement; after all, this is a roster minus quite a few usual starters, and it’s always nice to see a first cap, as Ally Sentnor earned hers on Saturday.
There was also no denying the atmosphere.
The sight of Geri Horner — “Ginger Spice” — in the Wembley VIP box and Michele Kang on punditry duty was evidence of the irresistible intrigue surrounding this fixture. But it was 10 minutes before kick-off, as the Wembley Stadium announcer promised “something never been seen”, that the USA’s arrival in England felt fiercest. Lights dimmed and a technicolor EDM-concert-meets-Super-Bowl-Sunday strobe light and fireworks show followed, culminating in plumes of red smoke for the players to walk out under.
It was pre-match pageantry appropriate for the billing, though the first-half display made hard work for the crowd. Optimistic chants of ‘USA! USA!’ were met duly by English boos, as was the arrival of midfielder Korbin Albert in the 72nd minute. A better second-half performance from both sides inspired a more Wembley-appropriate atmosphere from the 78,000-plus in attendance.
As for what happened on the pitch, Steph Yang, Meg Linehan and Charlotte Harpur analyze the key points.
No Triple Espresso, some problems?
The USWNT was without its usual starting front three of Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman, and Sophia Smith. Head coach Emma Hayes started Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams, and Emma Sears, with Thompson and Sears part of the younger and more inexperienced player pool that is getting a rollout in this info-gathering era between major tournaments.
The inexperience of the front three starting against England, both in terms of playing time and time spent playing together, showed in the way the forwards weren’t able to convert their entries into the final third into better chances on goal. The best U.S. chances in the first half were outside looks, including ones from Thompson, Casey Krueger and Sam Coffey.
Understanding that the purpose of these games is to season younger players and evaluate the next generation of starters, it was good to see both Sears and Thompson play the wings. Watching Thompson navigate frequent one-v-one duels with the older and somewhat more tired-looking England fullback Lucy Bronze posits a fun problem for the near future: where to put Thompson amidst the dominance of her preferred starting wingers. As for Sears, she was less robust than Thompson in her duels but was still a handful, either pulling wide herself or cutting inside off of Emily Fox coming from deep.
Yazmeen Ryan was substituted on for Sears at the start of the second half, and Ally Sentnor got her first senior appearance, coming on in the 88th minute for Lindsey Horan. Both players, especially Ryan, have patiently improved their stock in NWSL while searching for a place on this team. Ryan was asked to play both forward and midfield, eventually dropping deeper underneath Horan. Jaedyn Shaw also came on, replacing Williams in the 73rd minute, and took advantage of her ability to navigate the space between forward and midfield.
All of these players are part of a bigger question for Hayes, who has a delightful problem in perhaps having too many attacking options. Do you ask all these players to try to add to their toolboxes and risk playing them in second-best positions, or do you resign yourself to just having a really, really, ridiculously good bench?
— Steph Yang
Emma Hayes greets Alyssa Thompson (Matt McNulty/USSF/Getty Images)
Whither Horan?
Called-back goal notwithstanding, Horan’s presence in the game was marred by a lot of time on the ground. It’s natural for a central player as involved as Horan to get targeted, but she also toppled over a few times seemingly disproportionate to the actual force applied. Without trying to read too much into it, that’s commonly a symptom of a player who’s a little bit out of ideas.
To be fair, Horan was trying to enable some unfamiliar players, but she knows Williams well enough and that connection wasn’t there either, nor was Horan a good outlet for Coffey or Rose Lavelle. The weight of her through balls was lacking and shifting her higher in the second half didn’t really pull England’s defense out of shape. We got a glimpse of Shaw playing that role deeper in the midfield while Horan pushed high; Shaw was a good companion to Lavelle, pushed higher on the right. Lavelle and Krueger kept trying to aim for Horan’s head in front of goal — not necessarily the worst plan based on history, but one that wasn’t close to working on the night.
With a better central target for their efforts — perhaps Sentnor, given more time to settle in, or Shaw, pushed higher into the 9 again after Horan’s substitution — there was definitely more the U.S. could have found in front of the goal.
— Steph Yang
Horan scores… but is called offside (Matt McNulty/USSF/Getty Images)
Earps keeps England’s No. 1 conversation alive
For a friendly, it does not get much bigger than England versus the U.S. in front of 78,346 fans. Such occasions are where England goalkeeper Mary Earps thrives. She has a presence that commands authority and soaks up the pressure. Head coach Sarina Wiegman chose Hannah Hampton for the previous big Wembley occasion against Germany in October, hinting to Earps that there was uncertainty surrounding her No. 1 status.
Following her move from Manchester United to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2023, it took Earps some time to settle into France’s domestic league. Everything was new: coach, training, routines, culture and language. Now that she feels more at home at the club it shows on the pitch for her country.
With a commanding save, she denied Thompson in the fifth minute and later parried Williams’ shot wide to stop Hayes’ side again. She made other shots look comfortable thanks to her positioning while she was dextrous with her feet, at one point skilfully rounding Shaw far outside her box. Earps’ biggest strengths are her communication and organization of her defense. Wiegman will be pleased with her performance, but it gives the England manager an ongoing selection headache looking ahead to the 2025 European Championships.
— Charlotte Harpur
How much can the USWNT take away from the game?
This friendly won’t make the list of instant classics by any stretch and largely reflects where the USWNT is following the conclusion of one cycle and the start of another. It feels like a very long time until the 2027 World Cup, and even 2026’s World Cup qualifiers.
Younger players like Thompson, Sears and Ryan experienced the Wembley atmosphere, and hopefully got the exact level of development Hayes was hoping for out of a big-game environment — with Ryan in particular impressing in the second half. Naomi Girma looks as solid as ever, and Alyssa Naeher edged one cap closer to the end of her international career without needing to make any major stops. Hayes, meanwhile, managed to sneak a senior team debut in, with Sentnor coming in for Horan in the final moments of the second half.
The late waves of pressure from the U.S. were encouraging but remained unfruitful. In the end, Hayes didn’t have to show too many cards at Wembley. A stalemate against England feels like a perfectly acceptable result for November 2024.
— Meg Linehan
Naomi Girma (4) looks as solid as ever (Alex Broadway/USSF/Getty Images)
What next for USWNT?
Tuesday, Dec. 3: Netherlands (Bingoal Stadium, Hague, Netherlands), friendly, 2:45 pm ET
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(Top photo: Alex Broadway/USSF/Getty Images)
