A year from now we will be getting down to the wire for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. So what better time to make our initial roster predictions for the group Emma Hayes will call up?<\/p>\n
The U.S. women\u2019s national team won its eighth SheBelieves Cup title over the weekend, and didn\u2019t even have some of its most recognizable players available for various reasons. For example, Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson are coming back from maternity leave while Tierna Davidson and Catarina Macario are recovering from injuries. Those four players \u2013 if healthy \u2013 figure to play large roles at the tournament next summer.<\/p>\n
The U.S. women’s national team captured the SheBelieves Cup last week. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n One thing we\u2019ve learned from Hayes\u2019 time as manager so far is that she\u2019s committed to developing and growing this player pool. Not just for the 2027 World Cup, but the 2028 Olympics and the 2031 World Cup as well. And we\u2019re seeing her do the things she\u2019s set out to do in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hayes has given 32 players caps in 32 games. She\u2019s further established the youth programs and the U23 squad as the premier pipeline to the senior team. We\u2019ve seen players \u2013 Michelle Cooper, Claire Hutton, Lilly Reale, Jameese Joseph, Gisele Thompson and more \u2013 who were called into the Futures Camp in January 2025 and have since worked their way to getting regular call-ups. They are competing for spots on the roster for World Cup qualifying later this year and for the big show next summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n This past training camp was a peak inside who Hayes has identified as part of a “core group.” These are players who Hayes believes are ready \u2013 or nearly ready \u2013 to make a difference ahead of the 2027 World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using that as a guide, as well as noting players who haven\u2019t been available but will be soon, here is our first edition of who we think Hayes is seriously looking at for the 2027 World Cup roster:<\/p>\n Goalkeepers (3):\u00a0<\/strong>Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals)<\/p>\n (Photo by Jason Miller\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n The back line is pretty much set. Fox at right back, Girma at center back \u2013 alongside Davidson or Sonnett, depending on health and opponent \u2013 and then most likely Reale on the left. Davidson hasn\u2019t been with the team since tearing her ACL in March 2025, but she\u2019s back with her club ahead of this NWSL season, which means a return to the USWNT in April seems probable. Reale left the SheBelieves camp with a foot injury, but Hayes is high on U.S. Soccer\u2019s 2025 Young Female Player of the Year. Rudd, Patterson and Gisele Thompson (who is not listed here) have all seen their respective stocks rise over the past year and would be strong options to showcase the squad\u2019s depth at a major tournament.<\/p>\n Midfielders (7):<\/strong> Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC), Sam Coffey (Manchester City), Claire Hutton (Bay FC), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)<\/p>\n (Photo by Brad Smith\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n This is where things get the most interesting. The world saw how dynamic and dangerous a full-strength Triple Espresso can be when it led the team to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Since then, Swanson and Wilson have had babies and been out on maternity leave. In their absences, opportunities have come to Thompson, Sentnor and Macario, who could and should all be starters. This might be the most fun position group for Hayes because if you start the Triple Espresso, for example, and need to switch things up in the second half, a tired opponent isn\u2019t going to want to see Thompson or Macario coming off the bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY A year from now we will be getting down to the wire for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. So what better time to make our initial roster predictions for the group Emma Hayes will call up? The U.S. women\u2019s national team won its eighth SheBelieves Cup title over the weekend, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}