USWNT suffered at the Olympics. Their perseverance is rewarded with a chance at gold

Follow live coverage of day 12 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with 21 gold medals on the horizon

LYON, France — Emma Hayes wanted her players to suffer.

On Monday, the U.S. women’s national team coach showed her team a video of ultramarathoner Courtney Dauwalter talking about how she digs deep during 100-mile races. Dauwalter enters what she calls her “pain cave” during races. With each mile, Dauwalter imagines herself wearing a helmet with a chisel, picking at the walls of the pain cave, tolerating more and more.

“I saw today that the players had to push themselves to the limit,” Hayes said on Tuesday after their second straight extra-time semi-final win over Germany.

“I’ve said this all along — the reason I want the team to play together as long as possible is because I want them to develop that. I want them to suffer. I want them to have that moment because I don’t believe you can win without it.”

A year to the day it was bounced from the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, the U.S. survived and moved on. In four days, back in Paris, the U.S. will have the chance to win a gold medal. The team is not the same as it was a year ago. At this point, the players are tired and are being forced to mentally dig deep with each new match at the Olympics. Now, just one more to go.

During her 100-mile runs, Dauwalter had to run blind through parts of those ultramarathons. If Dauwalter can do that, Hayes said, the U.S. is more than capable of digging deep in the French heat. It wasn’t the only one to tire of the format or the limited schedules.

Still, there were things Hayes didn’t like about the match and the adjustments she tried to make against Germany.

“That’s not what it’s about. It’s about just digging something up,” Hayes said. “It’s heart and head, and our group wants to create a new history for themselves. They’ve done enough to get us to the finals, and that’s just the next step. We’ve got to take the next step.”

American players praise Emma Hayes for her leadership. (Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

Even though the team had to work hard to get through to the final on Saturday, every time the players came through the mixed zone after a match the mood was nothing short of celebratory (with perhaps a hint of admission of fatigue, especially on Tuesday). Hayes was no different after the team’s second win over Germany in this tournament.

She’s actually really enjoying herself. She’s not one to put pressure on them. She’s enjoying the company of the team. She pointed to the ’99ers and their influence on the team, the little extra confidence boost they provided during one of the team’s last friendlies.

“We’ve built a psychologically safe space for all of us,” she said. “There are friendships that are very strong internally. There’s a collective will.”

She called it not perfect, but progress.

The players have been extremely consistent in their praise for what Hayes has brought to the team in their short time together. Tuesday’s winning goal scorer, Sophia Smith, offered the latest entry in how the players appreciate their new head coach.

“We’re a different team since she came in. She’s so hilarious and laid-back and funny, and I think that’s exactly what we needed. We have the players, we have the talent, we just needed someone to believe in us and put us in the best position to succeed,” Smith said. “Emma does just that.”

Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said it’s clear the team embraces Hayes’ vision, but it goes beyond that.

“She’s a human being, and she humanizes herself to the team and the players. People respond well to that,” Naeher said. “She’s the kind of coach you want to play for, you want to fight for. You feel like she’s in your corner, and she’s not going to make it easy for anyone, that’s for sure.”

Alyssa Naeher’s last-minute save secured the U.S. national team the gold medal. (Brad Smith/Getty Images)

As intense as Hayes can be as a coach, it only helps if she instructs the players. Naeher said the feedback comes from a positive place, even if it is critical.

“She knows you can do it and believes in you,” she said. “That belief goes a long way.”

Hayes has focused on the details on the court, but she’s also taken care of the smaller details in the USWNT environment: like when she booked a nail technician for the players here in France, knowing she had the timing right.

There’s no direct correlation between that and two knockout wins, but it does build something bigger. That’s the stuff that makes it easier to run blind, that makes the suffering a little bit more bearable — because the players know they’re all in it together.

It’s her coaching chops and the demand for excellence, but it also helps that Hayes is just Hayes — always a little larger than life, a little goofy, quick with a line (even if the players don’t always understand it). She called the final group-stage match against Australia “a banana-peel game” before explaining to the team that in America it’s called a trap game. After all, everyone’s learning.

And at the end of the day, Hayes just likes a bit of banter. As he was led out of the mixed zone by the US Soccer press officer, someone quickly asked whether Hayes would favor Spain or Brazil in the final.

“I don’t care,” she replied, quick as ever. “I want something to drink.”

(Top photo: Claudio Villa/Getty Images)