USWNT coach Emma Hayes outlines 'non-negotiables' as team prepares for Brazil

The U. S. Women's National Team is regrouping this week for two important friendlies against its rival, Brazil.

The teams last met in Paris in July 2024, when the Americans beat the Brazilians in the Olympic gold-medal game on Mallory Swanson's second-half goal. 

With experienced players Sophia Wilson, Naomi Girma, Rose Lavelle, Tierna Davidson and Emily Fox out injured for the Brazil matches, U.S. coach Emma Hayes has a unique challenge. She must introduce new players into the USWNT system and bring them up to speed on the team's standards and philosophies in time for these crucial test matches. But how will new players find on-field chemistry after only a few training sessions?

For Hayes, the answer is simple: by honing in on what she calls the USWNT "non-negotiables."

"Sometimes we just assume that everybody knows what the demands or the standards are for a USWNT player," she said in a news conference before the Brazil matches. "But we have to transfer that — and we have to transfer it in the right way. Some of that, for me, comes in the 'non-negotiables' of the on-field performance, regardless of results.

"There are things in this game, regardless of experience, that we will not negotiate on. I have to tune the players into that when they come into camp."

It's a bold approach, and one that should help young stars ease their way into the USWNT. Instead of adapting to a new, highly complex tactical system, Hayes will have newcomers focus on the specific on-field tasks that must be done regardless of who the USWNT is playing or what the score is.

For Brazil — a formidable opponent and one the USWNT faced in two finals in 2024 — those non-negotiables revolve around physicality.

"If you watched our Olympic final, it was not like any other game during the Olympics," USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps said with a laugh. And she's right: The USWNT's win was impressively physical.