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Jeff cashoure
United States coach Emma Hayes told ESPN she will call up a roster composed almost exclusively of domestic players for the team’s training camp later this month to allow European-based players to rest after a long club season.
The one exception, Hayes said, will be vice-captain and defender Nomi sizewho returned to the USWNT earlier this month for the first time in 2025 after battling a calf injury early in the year.
“This is the first opportunity — and the only one — for them to take a break between now and the World Cup in two years,” Hayes said on Futbol W, ESPN’s weekly women’s soccer studio show. “And player welfare and rest and recovery are also important for these players.”
The USWNT will play Ireland in greater Denver, Colorado, and Cincinnati, Ohio, in late June before a July 2 meeting with Concacaf rival Canada in Washington, D.C. Hayes’ team beat China 3-0 on May 31, and Jamaica 4-0 on June 3 in its most recent friendlies.
Hayes said the decision to rest players was a collaborative one that included the USWNT’s performance and medical teams. They looked back at how many minutes players had logged, beginning with the 2023 World Cup that consumed most of that summer, and last year’s Olympics, which the USWNT won in its first tournament under Hayes.
World Cup qualifying will take place next year, followed by the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It means the player doesn’t get an offseason,” Hayes said of those who play their club soccer in Europe. “We don’t necessarily decide the international calendar, but this is one where we think it’s in the best interest of the players.”
The most recent USWNT roster included seven European-based players, including midfielder and captain Lindsey Horan, who plays for OL Lyonnes in France.
Hayes pointed to Emily Fox as an example. Fox helped Arsenal win the UEFA Women’s Champions League on May 24 in Lisbon, Portugal, before flying to USWNT training camp in Minnesota ahead of games in early June. Fox is due to begin another preseason with Arsenal in July.
Most players Hayes calls up for the next training camp will be from the U.S.-based National Women’s Soccer League. The NWSL season ends in late November, meaning NWSL players typically have most of December and January off from club and international duties.
Midfielder Rose Lavelle could be on the roster after returning to the field for Gotham FC on Saturday for the first time in six months following ankle surgery.
“I very much hope that she will be with us in camp,” Hayes told ESPN. “She’s had, as she calls it, a very lengthy layoff. I don’t think Rose makes a really good injured player; she’s bored senseless. I think she’s really looking forward to not just to get back for Gotham — I think it was great for her to make an appearance at the weekend — but we miss her at the national team.
“We miss her experience and [we’re] very much looking forward to her coming back.”
Lavelle was a starter for the 2019 World Cup-winning team, scoring in the final, and played a major role in last year’s run to an Olympic gold medal.
Forward Trinity Rodmanwho scored three goals at last year’s Olympics, will not be ready to play for the USWNT in upcoming games, but Hayes said she expects Rodman to return to playing for the NWSL’s Washington Spirit “in July at some point.”
The NWSL will break from regular-season play throughout July.
Rodman has dealt with ongoing back problems that kept her from participating in all but one training camp for the USWNT since the Olympics last August. She has not played in a competitive game since April 12.
“But of course she has to feel that her back’s in a place that she can move beyond the pain that she’s carried for a period of time,” Hayes said about Rodman. “She’s in great spirits, and I know we’re moving in the right direction with Trin. Both club and country have been working hard to get her to this stage.”
Hayes added she doesn’t think about whether it is best for her players to compete in Europe or domestically. She has, however, been outspoken about the need to improve collaboration in constructing calendars. She voiced her concerns in October about the NWSL scheduling Friday games after the USWNT played on a Wednesday.
Last week, the NWSL played two Friday games after an international window. Seattle Reign FC played in one of them in San Diego, and Reign head coach Laura Harvey said it “possibly goes against every health and safety protocol I’ve ever seen in professional sport — or any sport, actually.”
Hayes, who previously coached Chelsea to seven English league titles, said it is an ongoing balance between club and country. and said that part of the solution is increasing roster sizes.
Her decision to let her European-based players rest over the next two weeks is also part of that equation.
“I’ve been in that situation as a club coach at Chelsea and I had a large roster where I had to manage 20-plus international players, so I am accustomed to rosters playing internationally, and there has to be a place for both to co-exist,” Hayes told ESPN. “We’re working with the NWSL to create the best conditions possible for our players. But listen, no one’s ever going to be happy with that, whether it’s club or national team.
“The realities are that there are more games than ever, but we have to work together to make sure we get it right.”
