A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The FIFA Women's World Cup is less than a year away. No country has won more titles than the United States, but the rest of the world has gotten better, a lot better. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports on how the U.S. team aims to win again.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: U.S. coach Emma Hayes has a straightforward approach to preparing for the World Cup - in order to be the best, you have to train against the best. U.S. women are ranked No. 2 in the world, so who better to square off against than No. 1, Spain?
EMMA HAYES: I want them to feel the full force of what that looks like.
SULLIVAN: Hayes and the U.S. invited the world's best team to a pair of exhibition games here in the States. Now these two heavyweights are between fights. The first was last Saturday in Washington, D.C. The second is tonight in Philadelphia.
HAYES: There'll be learnings from Game 1 to Game 2. All of them learnings are about positioning us for knockout football.
SULLIVAN: The pinnacle of knockout football is, of course, the World Cup. The U.S. is the traditional top dog of international women's soccer. They've won the tournament four times, most recently back-to-back in 2015 and 2019. But the rest of the world is catching up in a major way. At the last Women's World Cup, three years ago, the Americans were seriously humbled when they were knocked out before the quarterfinals. The goal of this new generation is to find their way back to the top.
CRYSTAL DUNN: The legacy of the national team is no joke.
SULLIVAN: Crystal Dunn was a longtime national team defender who retired earlier this year.
DUNN: You come onto the team and people are like, we win everything. That's what we are expected to do, right? So there's this huge stress on you to basically uphold the standard.
SULLIVAN: The squad bounced back with a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The stars of that tournament were a trio of talented young forwards - Sophia Wilson, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson. They called themselves Triple Espresso. Now, two years later, one of the biggest projects for the U.S. has been to bring Wilson and Swanson back into the fold because each of them recently had a baby. Here's Wilson.
SOPHIA WILSON: I don't think most people, aside from the ones who have done exactly this, know exactly what goes into it, and, like, the day-to-day. It is challenging, and it's a lot of energy.
SULLIVAN: Wilson and her husband welcomed their daughter Gigi last August. Wilson, who's 26, took off all of last year and returned to the field this spring. Her recovery has been relatively smooth, though for a professional athlete, no return from pregnancy and childbirth is ever easy.
WILSON: Literally, the other day I was in the swimming pool at a 24 Hour Fitness with Gigi for her swim lessons the morning of my game (laughter). I was literally in the pool thinking, oh, my God, I have a game tonight.
SULLIVAN: About 300 women have played for the U.S. women's national team since the program began in 1985. Only 19 have been mothers. In Saturday's game against Spain, the U.S. lost 2 goals to 0, but Wilson showed she hadn't lost a step.
(CHEERING)
SULLIVAN: The recovery process has been slower for Swanson, who's 28. She had her baby last November. She has been playing this season for her club team in Chicago, but on Saturday, when she entered the game as a second-half sub, that marked her first appearance for the national team in nearly two years.
(CHEERING)
SULLIVAN: Swanson was the hero of the Olympic gold medal match against Brazil. Her second-half goal was the only score by either team in that game. She's not back at that level just yet, but to appear in Saturday's game at all was a milestone, she said afterwards.
MALLORY SWANSON: Getting back to playing is one thing, but to do it at the highest level is another, and I'm just very grateful.
SULLIVAN: Saturday's loss against Spain was closer than the final score suggested. The rematch tonight will say more about what the team still needs to work on. The time to iron out the wrinkles is now. Qualification for the Women's World Cup begins later this fall.
Becky Sullivan, NPR News.
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