4 Takeaways From the USA's Dominant January Camp: Trinity Rodman Leads The Way

The U.S. women's national team during the January camp didn’t have a ton of familiar faces on it. But they made the most of their time with two convincing wins. 

The Americans first overwhelmed Paraguay, 6-0, thanks to a two-goal performance by Ally Sentnor last Saturday. On Tuesday, coach Emma Hayes' squad dominated Chile, 5-0, with the least experienced starting lineup in 25 years.

There were no international-based or Gotham FC players (the defending NWSL champions are currently competing in the FIFA Champions Cup in London) available for selection. Instead, Hayes filled the squad with mostly young and inexperienced talent from the NWSL, some of whom could make a push for 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics rosters and some who will be more integral to the team in the future. 

Hayes said last week that this would be the last window in preparation for next year’s World Cup in Brazil for new players to get opportunities. As long as everyone is healthy and available, we should expect to see something that looks more like that "core group" Hayes has talked about in the next window for the SheBelieves Cup.

Here are my takeaways from the team's January window:

1. Trinity Rodman Leads The Way 

It was a standout camp for Trinity Rodman both on and off the pitch.  

Rodman agreed to a new historic multimillion-dollar contract with the Washington Spirit ahead of the USWNT’s two matches. The new three-year deal will make the 23-year-old superstar forward the highest-paid women’s soccer player in the world.

The announcement set the tone for the January camp, as it was clear that a weight had been lifted off Rodman’s shoulders after months of drama surrounding whether she'd stay in NWSL or go to Europe. Rodman was visibly happy, wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in her career against Paraguay. She scored in both matches, and got Hayes to dance with her in celebration after scoring against Chile.

Hayes was exceptionally delighted discussing Rodman’s return as well as the groundbreaking deal she struck with her club.

"I haven’t told her this yet, but [she’s] really growing up," Hayes told reporters. "And I’m always proud of that. I think being settled for any player really matters. Now, it’s about 'How do you accomplish your next set of goals?' And [she] can focus on that rather than her contract situation."

Rodman’s next set of goals certainly will include helping the squad qualify for the 2027 World Cup later this year.

2. Hayes Hints At Future Leadership

Coaches can be coy in public when asked about their team’s leadership. Sometimes they like to keep those things internal. 

Not Hayes. With a very green roster during this training camp, Hayes needed to call on different players to help transfer the values and customs around team culture and the environment, so everyone knew what to do. 

Lindsey Heaps is normally the captain, but the midfielder wasn’t available since this training camp didn’t fall during an international break. Neither were defender Naomi Girma nor other reliable veterans like Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett.

Before the first match, Hayes said she would be giving more responsibilities to Rodman, Claire Hutton and Emily Sams. Rodman and Hutton wore the captain’s armband in the first game, and Sams had it in the second. 

Sams told the broadcast before the second match that her goal while wearing the armband was to keep the standard high. She did exactly that, by scoring her first international goal and recording her first assist.

"I said at the beginning that leadership shows up in many different ways," Hayes said. "With Trinity, it’s her actions. Claire, I’ve said already, is a future captain in the making. I think Emily Sams, without question, leads by example with a combination of her behaviors not just in terms of being competitive, but the standards she holds for herself. She’s a great teammate, very thoughtful and caring and kind. 

"I tell her a lot that she reminds me of Emily Sonnett in terms of, she hasn’t got a lot of caps for us, but she’s always ready. She values training, puts the team first, and goes about that as a quiet steward of the program."

3. Two Matches, Two Starting Lineups

Hayes said right off the bat that she would be starting two different lineups in these matches. The idea was to give more first caps and keep expanding the player pool.

Hayes warned everyone that the performances might look "clunky" with so many new and younger players. The starting lineup for the second match averaged five caps per player, which was the least experienced lineup in 25 years. But the result was two overpowering wins with a lot of goals.

"It doesn’t matter who’s got the crest on," Hayes said. "You know what is expected in that role.

"So when you have players who don’t play a lot of minutes able to deliver a tactical performance like that, I think that’s what gives me the most joy. I think we always knew the U.S. produced players that can win soccer games, maybe a certain way. But I think we have learned how to break opponents down in much different ways where the expectation is high again on the team in terms of creating chances [and] scoring goals – that’s the level this program sets. And I feel like we’re returning to a level that was here a while ago."

4. Hayes Has A Good Idea Of Player Pool

As Hayes stated multiple times, this was the last camp in preparation for World Cup qualifying that will include so many newer/younger players. There were roughly 17 players who will contend for the SheBelieves window who weren’t in January camp, leaving seven or eight open spots for players who were in January camp. 

Despite so many veterans being absent, Hayes said she has a good idea of the pool and knows "which players we’re going to be building around."

Having said that, this training camp was an opportunity for others to prove themselves.

"For the players who are on the cusp for ‘27, they’ve shown not only are they competing, but by sometimes not having all that experience in front of them, they’re getting the opportunity they might not have ordinarily got," Hayes said. 

"The realities are, to cut it at the very top, we can give you all the support, but you’ve got to perform. I think in both games, the team – regardless of its experience as a collective, regardless of the connections that aren’t there because they haven’t played together before – I think showed an awful lot of maturity in the performance and that’s all I can ask from them."

Hayes attributed much of that to the success of the U-23 program and coach Heather Dyche, who has been teaching those players in a similar fashion to the senior team.

"They always do me proud, but this is also an example of why the U-23 program works," Hayes said. "Because if you’re Jordyn Bugg, Riley Jackson, Maddie Dahlien, Jameese Joseph, for example, [they] can just slot in. You understand the way we want to play because Heather and her team are doing some of that groundwork, so it’s seamless to transition. That was the aim of our U-23 program, and I think it’s paying dividends."

4 ½: What’s Next For The USWNT?

The 11th annual SheBelieves Cup is next on the schedule, where the team will face Argentina in Nashville, Tenn., on March 1, Canada in Columbus, Ohio on March 4, and then Colombia in Harrison, N.J. on March 7.

This window will be especially intriguing given Hayes has said camp will be more about the "core group" who could lead the team to the World Cup next summer. The roster will look quite different than the one who participated in January camp.

Could this mean we see the return of the Triple Espresso? Rodman is back, of course, and Sophia Wilson, who welcomed a baby girl last year, recently posted a photo on Instagram of her back training with the Portland Thorns. She and her daughter were at the match vs. Chile as fans.

Mallory Swanson, who also had a baby girl last fall, is still on maternity leave. Hayes was asked when she might be back in the squad and said the short answer is she doesn’t expect Swanson in the next camp. 

"She’ll return when she’s ready and that’s not yet," Hayes said.