USWNT face Japan in build up to World Cup qualifiers: Stalwarts return to mix with Emma Hayes' young prospects

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The U.S. women's national team is set to face Japan for the first time since the 2025 SheBelieves Cup loss. The Stars and Stripes will face their longtime rivals in a three-game window that will showcase two of the top teams in the world.

The two sides are fresh off recent title wins in March. The USWNT reclaimed the SheBelieves Cup title with a 1-0 win over Colombia after losing it in 2025 to Japan. The Nadeshiko won the AFC Women's Asian Cup after defeating tournament host Australia.

It's the first time since 2012 that the program has faced the same opponent three times in the same window, so it'll certainly be a new experience for the 26-player roster head coach Emma Hayes named for the upcoming window. It'll be a key test for the group with World Cup qualifiers for the Concacaf region set for November. This time, Hayes and the program have even more talent across the roster, with more players absent from previous camps returning to compete for positions.

The band is sorta back together

When the roster dropped for the highly anticipated Japan series, it included two players returning for the first time in over a year. Forward Sophia Wilson rejoins the squad following maternity leave. She welcomed her daughter, Gigi, in August 2025, alongside her husband, NFL wide receiver Mike Wilson.

Wilson has 24 goals across 58 appearances for the USWNT and last played for the team during the 2024 Olympics. She was a key member of the Olympic roster's "triple espresso" attacking line alongside Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson. The trio combined for 10 of the 12 goals and five assists during their gold medal run. Wilson will be reunited with Rodman during the three-game series against Japan, and Swanson is still working her way back into club training following her maternity leave.

Head coach Emma Hayes told reporters that Wilson's inclusion on the roster follows regular conversations with the player and is the right timing after her club play with the Portland Thorns.

"We spoke regularly, and this absolutely feels like the right time," Hayes said after the roster drop. "Not just because she's playing again at a high level, but I think it's really important for us to start getting these players like Soph back into a rhythm in preparation for the World Cup qualifiers."

Defender Tierna Davidson's return to the USWNT roster was also celebrated. She joins Wilson in making her return after missing all of 2025 with an ACL injury. The defender was the preferred centerback partner alongside Naomi Girma for Hayes during the Olympics. She sustained a minor injury that kept her out of the final group game and quarterfinal, but she returned to the lineup for the semifinal and gold medal match.

"It feels great. I'm really happy to be back in the environment, to feel the excitement and the support from not just the staff but the players. I just feel so welcome. So I'm really happy to be able to be here and help the team in any way that I can," Davidson told the media.

"In some ways, I feel like the new player coming back in. There's been a lot of evolution, a lot of great players in the pool, but it's been really fun to watch, just because I think we know that we have so much great talent coming out of our country, so to be able to see so many people get that opportunity and to do so well has been really encouraging."

The April window is also a second consecutive camp call-up for players who are based in Europe or working their way back from nagging injuries in 2025. Sam Coffey, Emily Fox, Lily Yohannes, and Lindsey Heaps are all in their second camp of this year.

Naomi Girma missed significant time in 2025 due to a calf injury. With the 2026 January camps being an unofficial FIFA window, she received her first camp call of the year for the 2026 SheBelieves Cup last month. She feels ready to embrace the long grind of a USWNT athlete, which typically includes play for club and country, and, in this year's case, World Cup qualifiers.

"I feel good. I think, given that, I think there's one less camp this year, we do kind of have a break in the summer just to reset going into the season, but yeah, I feel good and happy to be in for [this] camp," Girma told the media.

Currently not in camp is 2025 U.S. Soccer female player of the year finalist Catarina Macario, who just returned home to San Diego and signed a new contract with Wave FC through 2030. She's recently recovered from a heel injury, and while she and Swanson continue to put work in with their clubs, the massive player pool expansion in 2025 has continued to narrow in 2026.

Success of 2025 player expansion

A major success in 2025 was Emma Hayes' expansion of the player pool and relaunch of the U-23 program. Throughout 2025, Hayes gave more first-time callups and first debuts to more players than any previous manager in 32 games on the job, and 16 players earned their first cap in 2025 alone.

It was all part of the program's longer-term vision. Throughout 2025, there were dual camps for the senior team and the U-23 side, as well as other windows in which the U-23 team held its own camps and played games against opponents in Europe. The U-23 squad closed out the year with a 4-2 win against England's U-23 team.

Expanding the pool alongside a U-23 program not only provides more opportunities for players but also elevates the senior side for 2026, and players have complete buy-in. Some players started 2025 as part of the "futures camps" and U-23 windows, who ended their year on senior USWNT rosters. Jaedyn Shaw, Olivia Moultrie, Michelle Cooper, and Claire Hutton are just some of the players who are now part of that more narrow pool of players in 2026.

"I think what so many of the players have done in this environment, you know, coming in and really being curious, I think that's the thing that's so important. To be open in this type of environment is difficult, but it is so important to be curious, to ask questions, to lean on your teammates, learning, as well as the staff, obviously, but to just continue to be hungry to learn things, I think gets you so far in this environment," Davidson said of the newer players to the team,

"Because the way that we win is we have players, and we have a team culture of wanting to improve that one percent of being hungry for that one percent, and the way that you do that is to just be constantly wanting to learn. So, I think that players [who] have come through this environment, [who] have been able to last a long time, have that quality. We see that in young players [who] are coming today, which is so great."

Fine-tuning instead of starting from scratch

Naomi Girma, Sophia Wilson, and Tierna Davidson were all starting-caliber players once dubbed as future stars. They are now the present, even if they are returning from long absences, and even if the player pool was expanded in unprecedented ways in 2025.

Now, with three games against Japan, it feels like the beginning of weaving everything together. Whether it's returning Olympians or players who once stood out in U23 camps, manager Emma Hayes has a roster that truly reflects veteran experience and youth.

"I think we're in a good place coming into this year. I think we've had a lot of opportunities last year to deepen the pool, as Emma's spoken a lot about, and I think that it's served us well," Girma said.

"The 23 program being fully functioning, and being alongside the full team has been really great. Seeing a lot of younger players come into a full team camp and not really miss a beat, and not seem like they don't know what's going on, or feel like it's a little bit too much. I think that transition has become really smooth. I think with having some players come back in, [who] weren't in last year,  it's a really exciting time for our team. We have a big pool [that] now has experience. Whether it's in the last year, last couple years, and who's kind of ready to fill any role that we need. So, it's exciting. I think we have good camps coming up this year to keep preparing and keep getting ready."

With both the USWNT and Japan coming off a month where they both won titles, it's easy to look at the April games as a bit of a temperature check beyond roster construction. Now, in 2026, the group will have to weave everything together from over the last 18 months. From Hayes' arrival in June 2024 to player pool expansion in 2025, and now World Cup qualifying looming at the Concacaf W Championship in November, three games against Japan aren't just isolated friendlies; they're building blocks.

"I think this year it's a lot more fluid. I would say, I think a lot of the past years has been like building foundations and on a lot of camps, we would have certain focuses for that camp, and really try to nail those. And now we see, we kind of can change within a game. Whether it's from us, or from the sideline, and we have the freedom to do that," Girma said on her early outlook of 2026.

"I think because now everyone has played in that system and understands, like, what the differences would be, or what we're trying, how we're trying to exploit an opponent. I think we can kind of execute those better and without having, like, a full team talk about it. So I think that fluidity and being able to adapt, is a big thing for us this year...I would say those are the biggest things tactically that a lot of the groundwork has been laid."