After almost exactly four months, the USWNT is back as it prepares for World Cup qualifying next month. The team welcomes Spain for a pair of games that will provide the team with a formidable test to say the least. It is becoming time for Emma Hayes to have the team buckle down as she will be evaluating talent and player combinations against the top team in the world. Making the challenge that much greater, the team will have to do it without Naomi Girma and Sam Coffey.
At this point, the USWNT has
established its playing style and expectations under Hayes. The team is tactically flexible, but in possession wants to use a pair of midfielders to move the ball upfield. That will make Coffey’s absence especially crucial as she is a fixture in the starting lineup where she is may be replaced by Emily Sonnett. In the attack, the matchup with Spain will be a good test of how the front line can play through a top defense to create chances. The team scored one goal each in their matches against Brazil and that tally will likely need to rise if they are to get a result against the defending World Cup champions.
Defensively, the team will have to deal with the aforementioned absence of Naomi Girma. A key performance will be how well whoever between the expected starters of Claudia Dickey or Phallon Tullis-Joyce plays and combines with the backline. Dickey kept a clean sheet against Brazil and will want to keep her goalless streak going in the match if she starts.
For Spain, the visitors will be without Aitana Bonmati, however they are a deep and well versed squad with players capable of stepping up in her place. Spain wants the ball and wants to move it up field with fluid movement. They will move as a unit high up the field and counter press off the ball to keep opponents from establishing a rhythm or finding space to build possession.
All together, this is a friendly and the manager’s minds will be on using the game as a way to measure specific strengths and weaknesses of their squads. That said, it is a matchup of the defending World Cup and Olympic champions and a game showcasing the best teams in the world lends itself to exciting, fun soccer.
