Why USWNT coach Emma Hayes was so happy in the basement of a London pub: ‘I’ve got my mojo back’
The first time Emma Hayes introduced herself to the US Women’s National Team (USWNT), she posted a photo on the big screen.
The photo showed the intersection in Camden High Street, North London, just outside a pub called World’s End. Hayes told the players: “This is Camden, England. This is where I come from. This shaped me.”
So when Hayes returned to Britain on Saturday ahead of England against the USWNT at Wembley, US Soccer decided to use the pub as the setting for its pre-match press conference. A press conference in a café, that must be a first.
So on Monday morning at 11am, The Athletics walked down the stairs of a pub, around the bar, past some less than salubrious toilets, to Underworld, a black-walled basement club where Hayes spent much of her childhood dancing until 3am.
“I remember we used to come in here at night, and luckily it still smells like farts and feet,” said Hayes, who was greeted outside with a “Welcome Back Emma” sign. “It used to be a big indie spot for me and I definitely haven’t seen this place in daylight, so that’s refreshing.”
Although the music from the speakers remains the same, the agenda and atmosphere were slightly different at this time in the morning – not least the fact that tea, coffee and cakes were served.
With a table and microphones set up where Hayes had rock ‘n’ roll, the head coach looked forward to a bizarre mix of her mother, sisters, school friends, former and current colleagues and the international media.
Asked how she felt about being in the underworld with those closest to her, every word caught on camera, navigating questions from coaching at Wembley to Donald Trump, from USWNT’s Thanksgiving plans to the homophobic abuse directed at her former player Sam Kerr, from developing the national youth team strategy to Hayes’ top tourist tips, Hayes simply said: “F****** brilliant!”
(American Football/Getty Images/Brad Smith)
Hayes may be coaching in America but she hasn’t changed, firmly shaped by her upbringing in north London.
She credits her friends and family for keeping her humble. The people in the audience had shared her journey with her since she was a child, people who continue to run projects in London’s Camden Sports Development or youth leagues in Regent’s Park.
“My community is what I am and what I care about,” she said. “I’m so happy to be here with people who have played a big role in my life. My friends have never changed and I am grateful for that. If you say otherwise, there’ll be about 50 of them in line at the door in front of you… I’m kidding.
“Are you?” one joked.
“I probably shouldn’t say this at a press conference,” Hayes said, “but one of my friends used to live on Delancey Street and she lived in a big, fancy house, a nice five-story building. .
“I used to go there often and pretend that maybe one day this would be a life for me. I used to come home with a little posh accent and my mom would say, ‘Your shit still stinks.’”
That was a way to keep your daughter’s feet on the ground.
When it comes to her tenure as USWNT boss, Hayes is, in her words, “fresh out of the package,” but she is already thinking about her legacy, explaining that uniting the U.S. talent pool under a women’s soccer development strategy “will be the biggest piece” of what she leaves behind.
She described herself as a “builder” who wants to lay the foundation for the long term, and more importantly, she wants to devise a strategy for players and staff in all departments, with the “female lens” at its core.
“Everything we create, the systems, frameworks, methodology, everything is done through a male lens. I try to challenge that. If we value women and want to keep women in the workplace, we have to be creative, because raising children is the hardest job in the world and your children need you too. But you have a right to be able to do that and have a job in football. We need to think through a feminine lens. That is the core of everything.”
Hayes said of his own volition: “I’m not going to answer questions about men’s football. I know exactly where I am and what I want to do with my life. That is in the women’s game, developing everything in it and around it.”
From meeting the press to having a pint, @emmahayes1 is a woman of the people! pic.twitter.com/MBlZNkheDA
— US Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) November 25, 2024
On Saturday, Hayes will visit what she called her ‘second home’, Wembley. The 48-year-old will have to go through a “weird moment” of humming the English and American national anthems because she “loves both” before running into former Chelsea players such as her ex-captain Millie Bright.
Hayes was equally apprehensive about making the leap from club to national team management as she was unsure how the change in rhythm would affect her. For about 25 years, she drove to the training field six to seven days a week.
“I worried about that for about four seconds,” she said. “Then I said, ‘Okay, what are the benefits?
“I get to get up and breathe, take Harry to school, go to the gym, build my schedule around those things and not sacrifice the things that make me feel healthy.”
She added: “I definitely didn’t feel healthy at the end of my time at Chelsea. I don’t want to say it’s busy. I just think it’s the stress, the toll it took on me. I realized it was even harder to do that during menopause.
“To master all these things, I feel like I got my mojo back, my smile back and my joy back. I didn’t realize how much I had lost by doing so. I love football more than ever.”
(Top photo: American Football/Getty Images/Brad Smith)
