Megan Rapinoe heaps praise on USWNT youngsters: ‘It’s the depth that really wins’ tournaments

The U.S. women’s national team may currently be without a handful of the stars that were part of their gold medal-winning run at the Olympics, but retired soccer star Megan Rapinoe believes that the group’s current transition period is a perfect follow-up act to last summer’s triumph.

USWNT head coach Emma Hayes will work with just 10 members of the Olympics roster for this month’s friendlies against Brazil, including just one of the “triple espresso” – Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson – who together scored 10 goals at the Paris Games last summer. Rapinoe argued that the Olympics built a solid foundation for Hayes, who can now work on developing the next generation of players with the long countdown to the 2027 Women’s World Cup underway.

“We saw what they did last summer, winning the gold medal,” Rapinoe said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CBS Sports Golazo Network‘s Morning Footy alongside retired basketball legend Sue Bird, her fiancé and podcast co-host. “Emma was in charge for, like, five minutes and wrangled the team. We know what the ‘triple espresso’ can do but with those players being out, I feel like we’ve been seeing a lot of depth – Lily Yohannes making her debut and playing really well, Ally Sentnor making her debut and playing really well. I love that no matter what, we’re getting goals.”

Rapinoe, who won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal during her 17-year national team career, recognized that fleshing out the player pool is vital to achieving the ultimate goal of winning titles.

“Obviously, we’re in a transitional period still and a period where we’re a couple years away from the World Cup, but to me, I feel like in all of my years going back, it’s the depth that really wins it for you,” she said. “They’re long tournaments. Not every player is going to be able to play every minute of every game and when you have that firepower coming off the bench, I think that’s huge.”

The period of experimentation, which Hayes has fully embraced, will add another level to a team that already boasts a talented group of established starters.

“We obviously have firepower that starts, too – ‘triple espresso’ will all be back and healthy at some point, [Naomi] Girma will be back at some point, Rose [Lavelle] will be back at some point so for me, it’s kind of the well-roundedness of the squad,” Rapinoe added. “It feels like Emma’s really getting her fingerprints on it as well and setting those standards and having the players understand what she wants but it’s amazing to see that young talent.”

The USWNT face Brazil on Saturday at SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area before a second game against the same opponent on Tuesday at San Jose’s PayPal Park.