'Limited time until the World Cup' - The rise of Alyssa Thompson and Lily Yohannes, and Emma Hayes' narrowed roster: Five keys for the USWNT's first friendly vs Portugal

There are a number of key returnees for these games. Among them are veterans such as Emily Fox and Catarina Macario. Also back is Lindsey Heaps, the USWNT's captain and, despite her long list of accolades on the international level, she's still very much a player with a point to prove.

The USWNT is in the midst of a generational shift. Two years out from a World Cup and three years out from an Olympic tournament, Hayes continues to add new players to the mix. Heaps, at age 31, is heading towards the final phase of her USWNT career. Every game now, then, is an opportunity to convince Hayes to extend that phase as long as possible.

To her credit, Heaps continues to push herself. She continues to be a key player for one of the world's best clubs, OL Lyonnes. She also continues to work hard on her fitness, knowing that there's a lot of wear and tear due to the sheer amount of games and minutes she's played as a professional. She's still hungry, though, and, while she's still offering advice to younger stars, she knows she has to take it, too.

“My No. 1 thing that I say to all these players here is, ‘You’re here for a reason, you’re not just coming in for shenanigans,’” Heaps said. “‘You’re here to make this team better. Go and do your thing.’”

And she supports the youth movement that Hayes has implemented over the last year.

“What Emma has done, bringing in so many young players, less experienced players, the caps we’re getting, I think, is so crucial," Heaps said. "What makes a winning team, especially in those tournaments, is knowing that you need everyone. And you might need a less experienced player that maybe doesn’t have more than 10 caps, or players to come in and make a massive difference.”

Heaps' spot isn't under threat. She is still unquestionably one of the best midfielders in the USWNT player pool. Every camp, then, is a chance to show that against a rising tide of young stars, while also leading based on her experience.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the video:

That's the sort of thing Lily Yohannes can do at just 18 years old. That is the future of the USWNT and, as she continues to show for club and country, she might just be the present, too.

Now with eight caps under her belt, Yohannes is quickly moving out of the prospect phase. There's a very real argument to be made that she would start for this team if the World Cup kicked off tomorrow. Yohannes is a transcendent talent, one that Hayes is eager to nurture in the right way, given her importance to this USWNT's future.

Yohannes has taken big steps. She joined Lyon this summer and has scored in both domestic and European matches. The teenager has  become an even better player since she's made that move and, with these games being her first since that big club decision, there's reason to be excited about her return to the team.

"I'm pumped to have Lil with me at Lyon, first and foremost, because I think she's such a quality player and such a footballer," Heaps said. "To have her at Lyon now, to be there and learn from all of the players that are there are such an experience for her? I think she fits into our team so well, as she's started out. So I'm really excited for her.

"She's scored some goals. You've probably seen her recent goal in the Champions League, which is absurd when you think about it. An 18-year-old taking a chance like that?"

Heaps is right. Maybe "absurd" is the best way to describe Yohannes, in the best possible way.

It's been a similar talking point for a while: there's no Triple Espresso in this camp. Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson remain on the sidelines. Trinity Rodman was supposed to be here, but a recent knee injury while playing for the Washington Spirit ruled her out. So who steps into those attacking roles? Who can benefit most from this opportunity?

Start with Alyssa Thompson. As with Yohannes, Thompson heads to camp on the heels of a big move, having departed the NWSL for Chelsea this summer. She recently scored her first goal for the club, announcing herself to English soccer, just as she's truly announced herself to American soccer, too. 

“I was just expecting it to be more scary,” Thompson told the Athletic of her move to Chelsea. "I’ve lived in L.A. my whole life, and I felt like this would be so good for me - as a player, obviously, but as a person too. Just developing things that I’ve never had to think about before.”

Despite her 2023 World Cup experience, Thompson is still just 20. All three of her USWNT goals have come within the last 12 months, as she's capitalized on the opportunity created by the absences of Wilson, Swanson and Rodman.

Now, with a bit of momentum built up by her Chelsea move, Thompson will be eager to show she can be a centerpiece of the attack, even when Triple Espresso does return.

Speaking of young stars, it's been a strange year for Jaedyn Shaw. She's changed NWSL clubs twice, going from the San Diego Wave to the North Carolina Courage to, now, Gotham FC. For a chunk of this year, she was with the U23s, not the USWNT.

A year ago, Shaw seemed poised to break into a new stratosphere. This year, though, has been a reset for a player who, at 20, has gone through her first real rollercoaster of professional adversity.

"She has taken on board everything that we've been asking of her," Hayes said when asked about Shaw. "She's traded to Gotham. I think she's really starting to put all of those things together. She's an incredible goal threat in so many ways, and I think this is an opportunity for us to see, from the last time she's been in to now, how much of that gap she's closed."

It'll be interesting, then, to see how Hayes uses her. Shaw is still something of a tweener with this USWNT, a player without a clear position. Is she a No. 10, a winger or a false nine? What's the best way to get her onto the ball?

When this team is fully healthy, where does she fit in among the wealth of stars? We haven't gotten those answers over the last year. Perhaps this will be the time.

It didn't take long for Hayes to turn the page on the USWNT's Olympic success. Immediately after the gold medal win last year, she started a flurry of new call-ups, introducing new faces to the player pool. Debuts have been handed out all over the place, with 24 new caps through August. That isn't happening in this camp. 

For these games, only one player, Kennedy Wesley, is a first-time call-up. The rest are all familiar faces. It's a mix of veterans, such as Heaps, Fox and Emily Sonnett, as well as rising stars that have taken their chance over the last 12 months - think Ally Sentnor, Yazmeen Ryan and Claire Hutton. The player pool, it seems, is starting to shrink. Two years out from a World Cup, and with qualifying on the horizon, Hayes is starting to narrow in.

"I've only experienced this experimental phase," Hutton said. "For me, it's been amazing getting this opportunity and having the trust that Emma does have in me and the younger generation. But each camp we've gone into, she always shows us the footprint of what the next two years are going to look like. It's pretty cool to see and know we're taking it one camp at a time, and that each game matters and each training matters.

"Because, at the end of the day, there's limited time until the World Cup, and until the Olympics. So, for me personally, I do feel like, yes, there's a pressure to it. But at the same time, we're staying present and focused on what we have."

These two games against Portugal reflect that. In the grand scheme, these results won't truly matter. Bigger games are ahead, particularly when World Cup qualifying gets going. For individuals, though, every game matters as Hayes starts to focus in on her World Cup roster.