WASHINGTON — United States women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes lamented her team’s lack of goalscoring in a 2-0 loss to Spain on Saturday at Audi Field, but she said her team’s creation of more dangerous opportunities is a sign of further progress ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. But I’m not deterred,” Hayes said after the match, adding that the lessons they have been teaching U.S. players “will land even harder now.”
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World No. 1 Spain scored twice in the opening 14 minutes on defensive breakdowns but the second-ranked USWNT proceeded to outshoot Spain 13-6. Spain had only three shots on goal and registered 0.43 expected goals in the match.
The U.S. had a potential goal by forward Sophia Wilson called back after video review due to Wilson being offside. Wilson had a shot tipped off the crossbar and another shot skipped inches wide of the far post in the first half. Midfielder Lily Yohannes had a second-half penalty saved by Spain goalkeeper Adriana Nanclares.
“That just sort of felt like it’s just not going to go in today,” Hayes said. “But I don’t put those things down to poor luck; I put it down to poor execution, including the penalty.”
“We weren’t clinical at all in the final third,” U.S. forward Trinity Rodman said. “I also take accountability for that. I think my touches were not good enough in front of goal.”
Rodman had one of the United States’ best opportunities outside of the penalty kick in the second half, when Alyssa Thompson‘s cross found her feet eight yards from goal. Rodman didn’t make clean contact with the ball, however, and the shot was deflected and saved.
Ashley Sanchez came off the bench in the 66th minute for her first U.S. appearance in two years. She scuffed a similar opportunity on a cross at the back post.
“I don’t think it’s always necessarily a bad thing to lose,” Rodman said, adding that the team would watch game film on the bus later Saturday. “I think it’s really good to be able to have another game going off of this loss.”
United States captain Lindsey Heaps said her team made things too easy for Spain in the opening minutes.
“The two goals weren’t directly off of them playing through us or breaking us down,” Heaps said. “They had quality in their finishes, but it was almost due to our lack of not stepping to the ball, or maybe us giving them a transition moment and obviously a back-post cross that maybe we can prevent.”
Spain is the fourth top-10 opponent the U.S. has faced this year, with three home games against Japan in April, a pair of road exhibitions against Brazil and an earlier home meeting with Canada. The Americans split the series with Japan and Brazil and got the better of Canada.
They lost the first game in Brazil and won the rematch a few days later in a physical, transitional game. They will have the same opportunity at redemption against Spain when the two teams meet again on Tuesday in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Hayes said that despite the loss on Saturday, the U.S., which won the 2024 Olympics, has closed the gap on reigning World Cup title holders Spain.
“I know we’ve got some really good players, and we’re a really good team, regardless of the result today,” Hayes said. “I think we’re much closer to them than we were three years ago definitely.”
