Seven USWNT issues Emma Hayes must solve as Chelsea coach prepares to take over following World Cup misery

Alex Morgan's spot with the USWNT has been guaranteed for about a decade, but even before Hayes' arrival, it had started to come under question. The striker is in the middle of an 11-game goal drought for the national team, and given the number of rising attacking stars that have emerged in recent times, it's fair to ask whether 34-year-old Morgan's time as the USMNT No.9 is coming to an end,

Well, maybe not. Morgan still does plenty of strong attributes having evolved her game over the years. The goals will come for a player of her quality, too, even if that is a concern at the moment.

Still, with young talents like Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Mia Fishel, Jaedyn Shaw and Alyssa Thompson all vying for minutes, what role will Morgan play going forward? Now playing under a coach in Hayes that loves free-flowing attacking play, could this team look better without her in it?

Hayes will need to figure out what role Morgan will play and how big that role will be. Can she still start? Can she be a key veteran off the bench at a major tournament? Or, with a next generation looming, is time winding down for a player that, no matter what happens, will go down as one of the best the USWNT has ever seen?

The No.6 position in the USWNT has been a problem area for quite some time. The U.S. has been searching for answers ever since Julie Ertz stepped away to give birth, and it'll be up to Hayes to finally find a permanent replacement following the midfielder's post-World Cup retirement.

Andi Sullivan got the nod at that World Cup, but never quite made the role her own. Emily Sonnett has since stepped up, and to her credit, has looked pretty good. Then there's Sam Coffey, a player that probably should have more caps than she does with the USWNT based on her club form for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL.

With stars like Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan in midfield, the U.S. can go up against any team in the world, but only if they have that shield defensively to hold things down. Finding that player has been a struggle, but it clearly isn't impossible.

It's no doubt that one of the reasons Hayes took the job in the first place is that the USWNT is absolutely loaded with young talent, and whoever replaced Andonovski would have been tasked with bringing those players along and turning them into killers.

Doing that, though, is a delicate process. Players move and grow at different speeds, while veterans age and fall off the radar in different ways. Throughout her tenure, Hayes will need to make some tough calls about when and where to throw players in at the deep end.

The good news is that several players have already experienced the biggest stage. Rodman and Thompson already have World Cup experience, so that's one less thing for Hayes to worry about. However, for players like Shaw, Fishel and Olivia Moultrie, Hayes will need to make big decisions on when they're truly ready to step into the spotlight.

Shaw and Fishel have gotten a taste, and both have gotten goals to their name already, too. Moultrie was recently in camp and looks like the next player to make the step up. There's a young core starting to develop as Hayes' appointment nears, and piecing that puzzle together will be one of her more fun challenges during her time in charge.

The wealth of attacking options available to the USWNT is almost unmatched in world football. Morgan, Rodman, Smith, Thompson, Shaw... all current or future stars. You can also toss in Lynn Williams, a potential Olympic starter, as well as Ashley Hatch and Midge Purce. And don't forget about Mallory Swanson, who will be back at some point, too.

Still, despite all of that firepower, the U.S. has rarely looked like a cohesive attacking unit in recent times. The group struggled to generate much of anything at the World Cup, scoring just four goals in as many games, with three of those coming against minnows Vietnam.

Hayes will be very aware of that, and throughout her time at Chelsea has shown a willingness to try different systems to get the best out of all areas of her team. Hayes isn't a rigid coach married to one tactical ideal; she's open to adjusting so as to get the most out of what she has. She also is more than ready to think outside of the box and give players freedom, as evidenced by how she handles England stars Fran Kirby and Lauren James, who do not always have defined positions.

It may take some trial and error, and Hayes may have to experiment with different players formations and ideas to get it all firing, but getting the attack to play at least equal to the sum of its parts will be a big key to getting the USWNT going again.

This is one Hayes has already been working on! Catarina Macario is one of the USWNT's most interesting players; she's a total unicorn, a player unlike any in the player pool. When she's gone, there's no replacing her, and she's been gone for quite a while.

Macario continues to recover from her ACL injury, and that recovery has come under Hayes' watchful eye at Chelsea since her arrival from Lyon in the summer. Hayes will know full well what Macario has gone through and where she is as a player long before she ever steps foot back onto the pitch with the USWNT.

Hayes will also no doubt be a big believer in the midfielder, having signed her at Chelsea in the first place. Hayes knew about Macario's injury and signed her anyway; that's a huge show of faith in a player that truly can be a game-changing presence for club and country.

The U.S., no doubt, will look very, very different with a healthy Macario, and there won't be many coaches on the planet that will agree with that statement more than Hayes, who knows exactly what she's getting once the midfielder is back to her best.

This one isn't directly under Hayes' control, to be fair. This is more of a U.S. Soccer problem, one that will be chief among sporting director Matt Crocker's responsibilities now that the two head coaching searches are over.

For the last decade, the U.S. youth program has been underperforming in the women's game. The Under-20s haven't won the World Cup since 2012, while in the last two tournaments, they've failed to even make it out of the group stage. The U17s, meanwhile, also failed to make it out of their group in 2016 and 2018, before a quarterfinal exit against Nigeria in their most recent World Cup.

That's not to say that the U.S. isn't producing talented players, because the country is. A look at the current team shows plenty of players with world-class potential, while other rising stars like Lexi Missimo are on their way.

However, with the rest of the world showing more initiative in the women's game than ever before, the USWNT can't rely on the old methods of success anymore. The youth programs are, at the very least, in need of tweaking, if not a total overhaul. There needs to be a shift in focus towards development and tactics, one that feels a bit overdue considering how bad things have gotten.

It remains to be seen how much of a role Hayes will play in those discussions. She got her start at the college level, so he'll be plenty familiar with that aspect of development. As for the levels below that? That's mostly a U.S. Soccer problem, although Hayes will certainly be able to bring her expertise after building Chelsea from the ground up.

It'll take more than one person to fix this structural issue, but Hayes will definitely have an important role to play.

This is the most important part of it all. All of the above will feed into this, and getting this right will make all of the above even easier to accomplish. After falling flat at two straight major tournaments, the USWNT needs its swagger back.

Not the negative aspects of it, mind you. There's a fine line between confidence and cockiness, and, at times, the U.S. has swung a bit too far towards the latter. This group has been humbled, though, and a new generation is on the way in to set their own tone and build their own culture.

That culture needs to be similar to the one of yesteryear: a culture of winning. They can't overpower other elite teams anymore like they used to, but the USWNT sure as hell can beat anyone. This team may need reminding of that fact, but it's true: talent-wise, there aren't many that can match up with the U.S. group.

At the moment, this program will feel a bit wounded, which is why Hayes is here in the first place. She's here to bring back the glory days, to take over the most talked-about national team in the game and put them back where they belong. She'll know how big of a challenge that is and how much pressure there will be to succeed. She'll also know how quickly things can go south and how vicious the USWNT fanbase can be when things don't go the right way.

Hayes is taking this challenge on anyway. Despite all that can go wrong, it's clear that she is envisioning all that can go right as she looks to bring the USWNT back to the very top.