After putting Paraguay to the sword to open up their 2026 campaign, the United States Women’s National Team shifted focus to Chile as they wrapped up their first window of the new year in early preparations for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. With a completely rotated squad, and a 32nd USWNT debut coming in the 32nd match managed by Emma Hayes, the team looked to once again make a great first impression with their chance.
The match started out much like the last match, a bit slow, as the inexperienced
squad looked to just find some rhythm. Unlike the match against Paraguay, it didn’t take nearly an entire half before the team saw their first goal of the night. In the 17th minute one of the best passes we’ve seen came from Ayo Oke, who herself was making her first USWNT start, came away with her first international assist as she played a perfect ball to midfielder Croix Bethune who fought through the challenge and needed just one look to give the USWNT the lead early. The goal was the first-ever international goal for the Washington Spirit midfielder, who hit us with the Heisman celebration after getting past the initial challenge as she opened her account.
Speaking of hitting the heisman on them, the second goal of the night came with another first-ever international goal, this time it was Jameese Joseph. After receiving an excellent pass from Yasmeen Ryan, Joseph bodied the defender to stay on the ball, hit us with a gorgeous turn and fired a shot past the goalkeeper to double the lead for the USWNT while opening her international account.
The night of first didn’t stop there as the USWNT continued their first half domination. After scoring her first-ever international goal, Croix Bethune got her hockey assist, setting up Emma Sears who got into open space and put across a fabulous ball that went right across the face of the goal before finding defender and newest Angel City FC signing, Emily Sams, who tapped it in for her first-ever international goal as she opened her USWNT account in the 33rd minute of the match.
The team went into the halftime break enjoying the big lead, but the players were still hunting for more as everyone understood this could be the last chance they get to make an impression as the focus going forward would be on putting out the ‘best’ team ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It wouldn’t be long into the second half before United States continued their domination, just one minute into the action in the second half the USWNT found yet another goal. While not a first, it was Emma Sears who has been a scoring machine when picked for the squad, this time the 46th minute goal came via Emily Sams who served up an excellent pass that found Sears in stride, and the forward needed just one touch to set up a beautiful strike that found the top shelf for the fourth goal of the night for USWNT.
After a spell where things seemed to settle down, it got really sexy as we entered the final stanza of the match. After entering the match, it didn’t take long for the former first-time Captain to get on the scoresheet. The woman of the hour, Trinity Rodman found the back of the net. In the 69th minute, nice, it was Trinity Rodman who found the back of the net with an excellent strike, and after she failed to get the head coach to celebrate against Paraguay, this time Emma Hayes couldn’t deny the ‘ Sexy Dexy’ dance as Trinity ran over to hit the celly with her head coach.
The Rodman goal would be the last goal of the night as USWNT cruised to a 5-0 victory in Santa Barbra. The win made it an 11-0 combined win total in the first competitive window of 2026 as the team got set for the real work ahead. Now, as Emma Hayes hinted at, the team would start to focus on the real work ahead of the 2027 World Cup, with the She Believes cup and a friendly competition against Japan on the horizon. As for this window, the USWNT proved just how deep the talent pool is, with first-time Caps performing well, and a handful of players securing their first-ever international goals to open the new year.
