One legend saying goodbye. One icon saying hello, again.
And upwards of 80,000 in attendance, screaming along on a landmark occasion for women’s soccer.
The United States women’s national team will play England on Saturday (noon ET, TNT) at London’s Wembley Stadium in a massive international friendly between the reigning Olympic champions and European champions.
If those old Stamp Act tensions have abated, it’s still the first chance for U.S. coach Emma Hayes to put her stamp on the rivalry.
Hayes, a native Londoner who took over the USWNT this year and restored glory to the team with a gold medal in Paris, returns home to where she made her reputation in charge of Chelsea — with several of her former club players suiting up for England.
Hayes happily said it’s been a “pretty good week for me,” though she’ll have to adjust to going to the away locker room and she’ll have a “weird moment” when she hums along to both countries’ anthems.
“Looking forward to the game and to bringing my team to Wembley,” Hayes said. “I work every day so I can build women’s sport, women’s football. Eighty-thousand-plus, I’m sure a lot of people around the world will be watching the game, two top teams under the lights at Wembley … I hope it’s a night to remember.”
It’s also the penultimate time in a USWNT shirt for longtime goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who announced she will retire from international soccer following this week’s pair of friendlies, which also includes a Tuesday tilt in the Netherlands.
“Entering into a new cycle, a new stage for this team, it just felt like [I’ve] kind of given everything I have to give to this team and it just felt like the right time,” Naeher said.
Naeher, 36, has been the team’s No. 1 goalie since 2016, meeting the definition of a big-game player — Exhibit A might be the 2019 World Cup semifinal against England — with a famously stoic expression.
“Being such a leader, sometimes a quieter leader, but always leading by example and being able to perform under pressure, game in and game out, has been something I’ve always admired about her,” central defender Naomi Girma said. “We’re definitely going to miss her a lot on this team.”
Goalie is but one spot where Hayes is working to incorporate fresh talent into the USWNT mix.
The superstar Triple Espresso forward line (Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson) didn’t make the trip. Six Gotham FC players (Yazmeen Ryan joining stalwarts Tierna Davidson, Rose Lavelle, Jenna Nighswonger, Emily Sonnett and Lynn Williams) did.
Hayes is aware the environment at Wembley will be about as raucous an introduction as some of the new USWNT players could possibly get to the global stage.
It might not be the record attendance of 91,648 for a Barcelona women’s match in 2022 or the 90,185 who packed the Rose Bowl for the 1999 World Cup final. But it’ll be pretty damn close.
“But you almost have to do it,” Hayes said. “You have to be in that arena to see who they are in that. And that’s what I’m actually looking forward to seeing, which ones of our players thrive under that.”
