USWNT-Spain Round 2: What to watch for in crucial return fixture

Quality of execution...or a lack thereof

In the opening leg against Spain, the USWNT dominated nearly every attacking metric that mattered. It had 13 shots to Spain's 6, ten shots on target to Spain's three and 38 touches inside the box to Spain's paltry 15.

You know where this is heading, of course. Yes, the USWNT crushed the stat sheet, but it wasn't able to find the breakthrough chances it needed to crack the stats that matter most: goals. Yes, it had a Sophia Wilson shot (correctly) ruled offside and a Lily Yohannes penalty saved, but both near misses point to the USWNT's struggles with on-field execution and efficiency.

"Did I think we did enough to score a goal? Of course. Did we do enough to score more than one? Absolutely," said USWNT manager Emma Hayes after the match. "We just didn’t make the right decision and execute with quality. A lot of things are really good about what we did, but not those."

If the USWNT is to rewrite its story with Spain in Chester, it's going to have to find that execution quality, and quickly. Spain scored with its first two shots of the match, after all. It's not exactly lacking in that department.

A midfield shake-up

Hayes's USWNT midfield in the first Spain fixture was an unexpected one: a double pivot setup featuring veteran Lindsey Heaps and teenager Lily Yohannes. Both are stellar players in their own right, but neither is particularly well-suited to the roles Hayes asked them to play, and that was apparent from the first few minutes of the match. It was their inability to maintain possession in the center of the park that led to both early Spain goals.

Hayes usually leverages Manchester City's Sam Coffey and Kansas City's Claire Hutton as her pivot, but she can't do that here: Coffey withdrew from this camp with a mild injury to leave the midfield up in the air. Still, it feels like starting Hutton—likely over Heaps—in this second match against Spain might be a worthy experiment, if only to help the USWNT maintain possession where it counts.

Increased physicality

Spain might be the defending world champion, but it crashed out of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games at the hands of Brazil in the semifinal round. Why? Because Brazil—a team so aggressive it received eight red cards against the USWNT in a friendly match just four months ago—was clever enough to stop up Spain before it could really get going. Tackles, fouls, bumps, you name it: Brazil used everything in its arsenal to keep Spain from getting comfortable, and the tactic paid off for it in a big way.

Can the USWNT play with some of that guile too? Yes, of course...if it wants to. It largely resisted the temptation to mess with Spain in the opening fixture, racking up just four fouls over the course of 90 minutes. (Spain, for comparison, got 12.) Turning up the aggression dial—and keeping Spain from finding space on the ball—could help the USWNT maintain control of this rematch.

The USWNT will take on Spain on Tuesday in Chester, Pennsylvania.