Japan defeats USWNT 2-1 to win 2025 SheBelieves Cup

The SheBelieves Cup, established in 2016, is an annual women's soccer tournament pitting the USWNT against three top-level foreign competitors. The four teams play each other once each over the course of two weeks in February, and the team with the best record after its three games is deemed the winner. The USWNT has won the competition seven times, including five consecutive victories between 2020-2024. 

Japan's final win didn't just snap the USWNT's SheBelieves winning streak: it handed coach Emma Hayes her first-ever loss as USWNT coach. Hayes and her players delivered 15 wins, two draws and an Olympic gold medal together prior this Japan defeat.

For Hayes, the loss will sting, but it won't sting for long. Her goal was to leverage this SheBelieves tournament as a roster-building exercise that could give fringe USWNT players an opportunity to step into the spotlight. 

Hayes entered this tournament without Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson, the famed "Triple Espresso" front line that made Olympic magic together in 2024. (All three were recovering from mild injuries and preparing for the start of their club seasons.) She also entered it without defender Naomi Girma, whose recent move to Chelsea shattered the all-time women's soccer transfer record.

In their place, Hayes called up fresh faces like Ally Sentnor of the Utah Royals, Lily Yohannes of Ajax and Tara McKeown of the Washington Spirit. While these newcomers were unable to win the final prize, they looked utterly capable of expanding the USWNT's top talent pool in the future.

"There's no point in talking about the development of a program without providing opportunities for people to do it," Hayes said prior to the SheBelieves tournament, via Laken Litman of Fox Sports. "But with that comes the risk and of course, it [the SheBelieves USWNT roster] won't look polished in its entirety. 

"But I trust the process and I've been a coach for a long time to know that doing it this way will give us a much better chance down the road."

This philosophy—in-tournament development of fringe players as a means of preparing deeper rosters for future World Cups—is a new one for the USWNT, but a smart one. By giving the likes of Sentnor, Yohannes and McKeown the opportunity to feel USWNT-level pressure in a tournament environment, Hayes is preparing them for the big roles they may need to step into in the future.

Japan, for its part, looked unimpeachable throughout the SheBelieves Cup. The team has always been capable of greatness—it beat eventual champion Spain 4-0 at the last World Cup—but has struggled to maintain poise and possession in high-pressure matches. Last summer, Japan fell to Hayes's USWNT in the quarterfinals of the Olympics. This spring, under the guidance of new coach Nils Nielsen, it held on to flip the script.

Japan and the USWNT will return to action on Saturday, April 5, when they both take on different South American powerhouses in international friendly matches. Japan will face Colombia in Osaka while the USWNT will face Brazil in Los Angeles.