Alyssa Thompson scored a late game-winning goal and the U.S. women’s national team beat Colombia 1-0 to win its eighth SheBelieves Cup title over the weekend.
The USWNT faced Argentina, Canada and Colombia over the course of seven days and shut out all three opponents on their way to hoisting that trophy. The U.S. was extra motivated entering this tournament after losing to Japan last year.
“I’m so proud of the way we’ve grown up this tournament,” U.S. manager Emma Hayes said in reference to how the team had to find different ways to win against three challenging opponents.
“We’ve shown we can win when we’re not at our best, we’ve shown our depth, we’ve shown our maturity.”
Four different players – captain Lindsey Heaps, Jaedyn Shaw, Ally Sentnor and Thompson – scored goals, while goalkeepers Phallon Tullis-Joyce and Claudia Dickey kept clean sheets. The roster Hayes called in for this camp was more in line with the “core group” she has in mind when it comes to preparing for World Cup qualifying later this year. Of course, there were still some key players out – Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith, Catarina Macario and Tierna Davidson – but Hayes was pleased with the group’s overall performance.
Here are takeaways from this year’s SheBelieves Cup:
1. Alyssa Thompson’s growth
(Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images)
Let’s start with Thompson, who was named MVP of the tournament. The 21-year-old winger is unstoppable and should be on the field at all times. Thompson left the NWSL and Angel City last September for the Women’s Super League and Chelsea, where she leads the team with six goals this season. She’s the worst kind of player for defenses to face with her combination of speed on and off the dribble as well as beating teams in transition.
Thompson burst onto the senior national team scene just before the 2023 World Cup. She was young and inexperienced, but was part of that roster in Australia and New Zealand. Then she fell out of the team for a bit, due in part to injury. Since Hayes took over, she’s been on another level. Her goal against Colombia was an example of the kind of threat she is from anywhere on the pitch.
“It’s been a tremendous year for Alyssa, for both club and country,” Hayes said after the Colombia match. “The consistency in her play is standout for me in terms of being able to do things over 90 minutes and do it game after game. That clutch moment she had today, she’s been doing that for Chelsea all year.”
2. “This team has endless depth”
(Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Since the U.S. won gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024, everything has been about developing the player pool. As part of her overall strategy, Hayes has given 32 players caps in 32 games. She’s placed a newfound importance on the youth national teams and the U23 program. And the team is reaping the benefits as it inches closer to World Cup qualifying later this year.
“Take someone like Ally Sentnor,” Hayes said. “Ally Sentnor is super ambitious. She’s about doing that today, not tomorrow. She has set lofty goals for herself and she’s fine to live with those things. I’m so excited to see this year’s version of Ally Sentnor or Claire Hutton or Lily Yohannes. That is the aim of development and creating competition. I feel like we are in a much stronger position.
“I always rewind to the Olympics. I felt really clear about 14 players. The gap, I felt, was much bigger in terms of experiences. We’re closing the gap [more] between now and qualifying. Once we hit the bottom for the qualifying marketing campaign, this staff will likely be even additional alongside than it’s already.”
Within the 1-0 win over Canada, Hayes introduced in Heaps, Shaw, Yohannes and Emma Sears off the bench within the second half. Heaps, in fact, is the staff captain and usually begins. The opposite three have began and might be common starters by subsequent summer season’s World Cup in Brazil.
“This staff has limitless depth,” Sentnor advised the published after that match.
3. How will Hayes use all this expertise?
(Photograph by Howard Smith/ISI Photographs/USSF/Getty Photographs)
That would be the query, particularly as soon as gamers like Swanson, Smith, Davidson, Macario, and so forth. are again with the staff.
Once they get to qualifying within the fall, and even the World Cup subsequent summer season, what is going to the beginning lineup appear to be? Will the entrance line be all Triple Espresso? What would that imply for the likes of Thompson or Macario or Shaw?
Somewhat than view this as an issue, having a deep roster permits Hayes to present opponents completely different appears to be like. Like within the Colombia match when Heaps, Shaw, Sears, Tara Rudd, Olivia Moultrie and Jameese Joseph all got here on within the second half.
“It’s not like the sport wanted altering, it’s not like we had been shedding,” Hayes mentioned. “However I wished to maintain providing one other model of ourselves and I feel if folks perceive their roles and obligations and there’s readability, it shouldn’t matter who is available in.”
Hayes continued: “The distinction now [versus when she was first hired ahead of the Olympics] is you possibly can usher in Emma Sears and it’ll add worth and high quality. I’m actually pleased with our gamers. And I’m pleased with the system. I’m pleased with the event from our youth nationwide groups into the U23 transitions and right here [with the senior team].”
4. Creating the No. 9
(Photograph by Roger Wimmer/ISI Photographs/ISI Photographs through Getty Photographs)
Had Wilson (maternity go away) and Macario (harm) been out there for this camp, they might have been known as up. However their absences created alternatives for extra improvement within the No. 9 place.
Sentnor performed the primary two video games and scored the profitable aim towards Canada off a nook kick.
“I believed she was distinctive,” Hayes mentioned. “Mencing. She was in all places. Didn’t let folks breathe.”
In opposition to Colombia’s low block, Hayes wanted a distinct presence, so she turned to Shaw.
“I believed Jaedyn did very well and held the ball up otherwise,” Hayes mentioned. “Linked with Olivia [Moultrie], so I believed the 9 and 10 did properly. After which when it’s worthwhile to shut the sport and need a stretch 9, you possibly can go to Jameese Joseph. We’re in a significantly better place on account of that.
“I’m happy figuring out it’s an space we have now to develop. And we have now to search out these moments for improvement. However I feel we’re in a greater place than we had been prior.”
This will likely be an intriguing place battle to look at, particularly as soon as Wilson and Macario return. Wilson was the go-to on the Olympics, whereas Macario led the staff in scoring in 2025. Then you may have the youthful gamers who’re proving themselves every likelihood they get.
Whoever Hayes goes with in any given sport will likely be extra indicative of how she desires to play towards that individual opponent fairly than who she thinks needs to be an everyday starter. That might be mentioned for nearly any place, which is a testomony to the general progress and improvement of this participant pool.
“[We can now] carry gamers on and preserve that high quality,” Hayes mentioned.
4 ½: What’s subsequent for the U.S.?
The USA will play Japan 3 times in April. This will likely be an excellent measuring stick for the squad as Hayes mentioned Japan is “at one other stage than all three groups we performed” on this window. Japan beat the U.S. in 2025 and received the SheBelieves Cup.
“I feel it units us up completely to see the place we stack up on the subsequent stage,” Hayes mentioned.
The following camp might additionally characteristic Wilson, who over the weekend performed in her first match since getting back from maternity go away. Wilson got here on within the seventy fifth minute for the Portland Thorns in a 5-1 preseason win over Liga MX membership Monterrey.
Her anticipated return will likely be an enormous enhance to the USWNT.
