It’s the final day of 2025, and it’s a great day to look back at the year and see how the USWNT did. The USWNT went 12W-3L-0D this year, and they look ahead to a 2026 that will feature qualifying for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. As we do every year, we make some predictions for the USWNT, and this is the time we look back and see how right – or wrong – we are. So, let’s look back and evaluate our 2025 predictions!
Lily Yohannes will be starting in the midfield by June.
She’s not starting all the time, but she has gotten some starts! Lily received her first
starts during the SheBelieves Cup in February and, in total, had 5 starts in 2025. She’s still very young, but she’s poised to being one of the integral players for the team in 2026 and beyond…she might already be there.
Naomi Girma will be the team’s captain by the end of the year.
The captain is still Lindsey Horan. Naomi Girma was hurt for much of the year and didn’t play a lot for the national team. She’s still the best player in the world when healthy, and here’s to hoping a 2026 gives us more of her showing that no one on the planet can mess with her.
The USWNT will not lose a game.
This was a bold one given the schedule that the team lined up for the year. They went 12W-3L-0D, with the losses coming against Japan, Brazil, and Portugal.
Five uncapped players from the Futures Camp will have caps by the end of the year.
This one was a win! Head coach Emma Hayes said she wanted to give young players opportunities to show they belong on the international stage, and so many players received caps in 2025. From the Futures camp that operated alongside the USWNT training camp back in January, six players – Jordyn Bugg, Gisele Thompson, Claire Hutton, Michelle Cooper, Jameese Joseph, and Avery Patterson – received at least one cap after that point. Many of them became some of the players who we saw the most this year, showing us that these players stepped up to the challenge and made the most of their opportunity. And it just makes the future that much brighter.
The USWNT will score 60 goals.
60 was a lot, and over 15 matches, that would have meant the team scoring 4 goals per game. That would have been pretty bold, but doable for this team. They ended the year with 41 total goals, with Catarina Macario leading the team with 8. A 2.733 goals per game average is still pretty good, but I’m sure the team will want to aim even higher next year.
The USWNT will have 6 wins against Top 10 teams
Unlike previous years, the USWNT didn’t have a ton of opportunities to face some of the top teams in the world. They were able to line up against Top 10 teams just four times in 2025. They lost to Japan in the finale of the SheBelieves Cup, split a pair of April friendlies against Brazil, and beat Canada in a July friendly. We’ll see if they have more opportunities to play top talent in a year where teams have to undergo World Cup qualifying.
So, we had a couple of hits! And a few that were way off. As we prepare to welcome in 2026, we hope to do better. Enjoy your New Year’s Eve…say goodbye to 2025.
