Hayes frustrated after USWNT’s shock loss to Portugal
CHESTER, Pa. — A frustrated U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes said her side was unrecognizable in its 2-1 loss to Portugal on Thursday at Subaru Park.
“I didn’t recognize us,” Hayes said. “We just rushed everything; we went direct. We didn’t look like the team we’ve been working on — but that’s what happens when you’ve had 113 days apart.”
The defeat marked the USWNT’s third of the year, something that has happened only four other times in the program’s 40-year history. The previous two losses came against global heavyweights Japan and Brazil while Hayes continued experimenting with younger players in the lineup.
Hayes called Thursday’s result — the team’s first-ever loss to Portugal in 12 meetings — the most frustrating of her 18 months in charge, primarily because of how her team played.
“I was frustrated this evening because it felt like a game of Whac-A-Mole,” Hayes said, repeatedly striking the table during her postgame press conference to illustrate the point. “Every time I tried to fix something, another problem popped up. That’s how the game felt for me as a coach — and after doing this for so long, I hate those games.”
Hayes said her team mistimed defensive actions “from front to back” and failed to win individual duels. Both goals conceded came from corner kicks — mistakes she partly attributed to the long, four-month break between international windows.
Midfielder Sam Coffey, however, was unwilling to use rust as an excuse.
“There are a million excuses you could make, and we’re not going to,” Coffey said. “To say that we haven’t been together, or we’re young, or whatever — that’s a cop-out. The standard of this team is to own it when you’re not good enough and not playing up to the crest. The standard is winning, and it exceeds all of those things.”
The U.S. had a dream start when Rose Lavelle, who appeared to be offside, scored just 35 seconds into the match. But from there, Hayes said, her team failed to build momentum or maintain tempo.
“It felt like a team in preseason to me, so we’ve got to let it go,” Hayes said. “But as I always say, don’t make it a
Players echoed their coach’s frustration. Lavelle and Coffey both said there were too many individual efforts, while captain Lindsey Heaps added that “sometimes it felt a little bit like we were on islands.”
Hayes credited Portugal for its composure and warned her players not to underestimate European sides that now benefit from more tournament experience and “know how to kill off games.” Still, she made clear that her own team’s collective performance was the main issue.
“The reality is, it’s not good enough from the team — not from any individual,” Hayes said. “I told the players afterward: everyone wants to solve a tough game when things aren’t going well, but that’s not how you win. The team wins games.”
The USWNT will get a chance for redemption — or “revenge,” as goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce put it — when they face Portugal again on Sunday in East Hartford, Connecticut.
As poor as Thursday’s showing was, Heaps urged perspective.
“We haven’t been together in four months — we’ve got to remember that,” Heaps said. “We’ve had two days of training. You don’t want to be super negative right now, because you’ll just beat your head in.”
