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Get your popcorn ready for this one.🍿 Emily Olsen here with Meg Linehan, Asli Pelit and Tamerra Griffin — welcome to Full Time!
Summer Camp
Hayes gives players ‘much-needed’ rest
Just months into the job, head coach Emma Hayes pushed the U.S. women’s national team nearly to the brink at the Olympics — she even referenced the ultramarathon ideology of the “pain cave.” But like any good leader, Hayes understands balance. This year she’s giving key players a “much-needed break.”
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Roughly 10 days out from the next USWNT camp, we are still waiting for the roster. But Hayes revealed in an interview with ESPN that she plans to give the Europe-based players the next summer window off. This includes two games against Ireland in Denver and Cincinnati next week and one versus Canada in Washington, D.C., on July 2.
With the 2027 World Cup in Brazil two years away and her core group starting to take shape, Hayes said that “player welfare” and “rest and recovery” are important, especially considering number of games played, the length of seasons and the frequency of games since the 2023 World Cup. The camp will help key players returning from injury, too.
- Vice-captain and defender Naomi Girma, who spent her first months with Chelsea injured, will return to the team as she continues to build fitness.
- Hayes also hopes Rose Lavelle will join. The Gotham midfielder had ankle surgery in the offseason and made her first start earlier this month.
- Trinity Rodman, who remains out to address a back issue, is expected to miss camp again. Hayes thinks she’ll be back with her club, the Washington Spirit, in July.
📺 Hayes has handed out nearly two dozen first-time call-ups already. Watch former USWNT midfielder Sam Mewis share who she thinks should be next.
A tale of 2 teams
I won’t reference the U.S. men often in this newsletter, but I think there is too stark of a juxtaposition between the teams right now not to. (And with Midge Purce pointing out the drama, it only felt right.) For those who don’t know, here’s what the men have been up to:
- With one year to go until the 2026 men’s World Cup, the pressure is on for new coach Mauricio Pochettino, who — like Hayes on the women’s side — is internationally experienced at the club level and coached Chelsea.
- Over the past few weeks, a bit of back-and-forth has brewed between Pochettino, team captain Christian Pulisic and … former players via an exhausting number of podcasts. (As much as I encourage you to listen to our “Full Time” podcastverse, not everyone needs one.) Pulisic, who isn’t playing for the U.S. this summer, told CBS he wanted to be part of the recent friendlies but sit out the Concacaf Gold Cup to recharge.
- Pochettino seemingly took issue with those comments, most recently responding ahead of his team’s 5-0 win yesterday (which ended a four-game losing streak): “I don’t need for him to understand our decision. … I am 53 with a lot of experience in fútbol,” and adding, “I think when I signed my contract (with) the federation, (it said) I am the head coach. I am not a mannequin.”
The situations aren’t identical, and we won’t know if Hayes’ approach will pay off until 2027, but it does appear she’s getting ahead of any future tension by considering her players’ workload before competitive matches pick back up.
📧 For all the USMNT drama and more, subscribe to the daily TAFC newsletter. Phil Hay is a must-read.
Hi, My Name Is …
US Women’s million-dollar goal scorer
Evelyn Shores was still jetlagged from her trip to Germany when she scored the goal worth $1 million for the US Women at The Soccer Tournament last week.
The 20-year-old Atlanta native had a breakout year after consecutive injuries sidelined her during her senior year of high school and freshman season at UNC — the school she’d dreamed of attending since eighth grade.
- Shores played a pivotal role in securing UNC’s 23rd NCAA title in 2024, its first in 12 years.
- At the end of May, as the only collegiate player on the U.S. U‑23 roster, she scored a dramatic last-minute winner against Germany, proving she is poised for success on the international stage.
- Her true pièce de résistance came just days later on a field in Cary, N.C. — just a stone’s throw from campus — where she played alongside her idols: Heather O’Reilly, Ali Krieger and Carli Lloyd. The icing on the cake was that TST game winner:
Unfortunately for Shores, NCAA rules prohibit student-athletes from accepting prize money. However, she wasn’t in it for that.
“Playing one-v-one in practice with Carli Lloyd the day after flying in from Germany? That was insane,” she told Asli. “They made us feel like equals. That was the craziest part.”
Could she be the next U.S. player called into the senior team?
Meg’s Corner: Angel City is ‘Immigrant City Football Club’
The less said about Angel City’s last-gasp loss at home to the North Carolina Courage the better for Angel City fans. However, the events happening off the pitch at BMO Stadium went beyond soccer this weekend and took center stage in the NWSL, following a week of immigration raids and resulting protests in Los Angeles.
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The club distributed 10,000 T-shirts reading “Immigrant City Football Club” and “Los Angeles is for everyone / Los Ángeles es para todos” to players, staff, supporters and fans. They are also available in their online shop, with net proceeds going to a local legal service for immigrants.
“The fabric of this city is made of immigrants. Football does not exist without immigrants. This club does not exist without immigrants,” Angel City wrote on a message card handed out on Saturday night. Founding investor and recording artist Becky G also read it out before the match.
It was an affirmative, if not outright earnest, reply from Angel City as a club and as a part of the Los Angeles community to the fear and uncertainty stemming from the week’s events. The NWSLPA also released a joint statement with the WNBA players association, and Chicago Stars FC pointed to local resources in a brief statement.
The league itself has yet to address the topic, however, even if it was clear how the NWSL community as a whole appreciated Angel City’s willingness to step up and meet the moment.
Pau Barrena / Getty Images
Need to Know
Lyonnes in talks with USWNT teen star
Lily the Lyonne might have to become a thing.
Ajax and USWNT midfielder Lily Yohannes, who recently celebrated her 18th birthday, may soon be the latest signing of OL Lyonnes, joining French striker Marie Antoinette Katoto and incoming head coach Jonathan Giráldez, making the eight-time Champions League title holders look even more ferocious next season.
Last week, Tamerra reported that Ajax, where Yohannes signed her first professional contract, and the French powerhouse were in talks over a potential summer transfer, introducing a bit of a plot twist to the recent reports that the Springfield, Va., native might be headed to Chelsea. A source said Ajax’s talks are currently focused on OL Lyonnes, though nothing has been signed yet. Trust and believe Chelsea fans will be processing this as a loss if the deal goes through.
World Cup 2031 check-in
With all this talk about the men’s World Cup next year, we asked Asli to get the lowdown on the women’s tournament the U.S. is hosting alongside Mexico in 2031.
U.S. Soccer kicked off its city selection process last month. Twenty-nine cities, including 11 cities that will host the 2026 men’s World Cup, received the information packets. The list is not exclusive, meaning if another city wants to throw its hat in the ring, it can. But time is running short. The deadline to submit detailed proposals is September, and formal bids must be submitted to FIFA at the end of November, according to sources.
The timing is notable: 2026 host cities haven’t even had a chance to evaluate the full impact of hosting the men’s tournament before committing to 2031. That’s a big risk given that economic, logistical and reputational risks can be significant. They’ll need to secure additional funding and make sure FIFA’s infrastructure demands have been taken care of.
Full Time First Looks
Inaugural champions: The other Division I league in the U.S., the USL Super League, wrapped its first season Saturday with a 1-0 championship victory for the Tampa Bay Sun over Fort Lauderdale United. Captain Jordyn Listro joined “Full Time” to talk about the special win.
Scary situation: I was horrified to read about Seattle Reign forward Jordyn Huitema’s experience with a high-profile home invasion and moved by the trust and care with which Susie Rantz told her story: “She had broken her back the year before, and as she sat behind the door, she made peace with the idea that if she had to break it again to keep the door shut, she would.”
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Championship by the Bay: How does Thanksgiving in the Bay Area sound? The 2025 NWSL final is heading to San Jose’s 18,000-seat PayPal Park, the home stadium of Bay FC and MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes, on Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. ET.
Before we go … check out who joined Meg at the Vermont Green women’s exhibition games last week. (Spoiler: It’s fellow Vermonter, Ilona Maher, Olympic bronze medalist in Rugby Sevens.)
Meg Linehan / The Athletic
📫 Love Full Time? These stories can also be found on Yahoo’s women’s sports hub, in partnership with The Athletic. Also, check out our other newsletters.
(Top photo: Bailey Holiver / Imagn Images
This news was originally published on this post .
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