The international break started off with a pair of friendlies against the Republic of Ireland. Both games ended 4-0 in favor of the USWNT.

The Republic of Ireland and the US were missing typical key pieces and big names for various reasons. For the US, Head Coach Emma Hayes decided to give everyone (except for Naomi Girma) that plays club in Europe a well deserved break. For Ireland, Katie McCabe was given a rest while Denise O’Sullivan is still working back from an injury from NWSL play. This camp has been touted as sort of a “last big chance” for players to make a case for themselves to be considered a core building piece for the 2027 World Cup. Let’s talk about who may have stood out from the rest of the pack.

These two games followed a similar pattern to the friendlies against Brazil in April. The first game featured what would probably be her preferred starting XI if these were the players she had to work with, while the second game had an XI composed of much less experienced players led by a single veteran captain.

Thursday Starting XI

Standouts from the first match for me were Avery Patterson and Lilly Reale. Patterson was tearing Ireland’s defense to pieces up the right channel, pushing high and generating a lot of chances. Reale was steady, reliable and didn’t seem at all like she was playing in her debut. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if either of these two are solidly in the conversation for 2027.

It feels like Alyssa Thompson and Claire Hutton may be pretty solid locks for Hayes in terms of the next World Cup and Olympics cycle at this point. Thompson started again in the absence of any members of Triple Espresso and generated the most xG and xA on the day. She got a goal for all that work too, although with some better luck and finishing probably could have, or maybe should have, gotten more. The goal she did convert was undeniably beautiful though.

This game saw the return of Rose Lavelle to the starting XI after a long layoff after ankle surgery. It looked as if she hadn’t missed a day. If she’s available, it feels like there would be no reason not to have her on the 2027 roster. To remind us all of that, she treated us all to an excellent goal.

Overall, Thursday’s match was a solid performance by the US up and comers that kept Ireland on their heels for the entire game. There was almost nothing for debutante goalkeeper, Claudia Dickey, to do the whole 90 minutes. When called upon though, she was ready.

Sunday Starting XI

As stated before, Sunday’s lineup featured heavy rotation and debuts for Sam Meza and Izzy Rodriguez. Lynn Biyendolo captained the kids and proved to everyone why she’s still on this team with a great volley in the 12th minute.

The pace of the second game was a bit slower and more disjointed due to a pretty low number of caps across the XI and most of these players having never played together before. Despite that, they still made pretty definitive work of this Ireland squad. Ireland got forward a bit more than they did on Thursday night but were ultimately still unthreatening.

Emma Sears put in quite a lot of work on the right flank. She was involved in some way or another with most of the goals officially notching an assist on the Biyendolo goal. Despite this it did feel like her final pass and finishing was a bit off, but my guess is that those will undoubtedly improve as she gets more repetitions.

Both Izzy Rodriguez and Sam Meza impressed me in this game. Rodriquez was pushing high on the left and making an impact by both serving up dimes and getting into dangerous positions herself. Meza was sturdy in the midfield breaking up play, winning balls, and contributing to the forward progression of the team. I really enjoyed what I saw from both of them, especially in their first cap.

Mandy McGlynn similarly didn’t have much to do in goal this game, but it was interesting to see that Dickey had started ahead of her in the match on Thursday. When the game against Canada comes rolling around on Wednesday, I think it may be telling as to who is taking the #2 spot behind Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Not necessarily the toughest opponent, even for a young USWNT, especially with the absences on the Irish side, but it was great to see a lot of young players get significant minutes and make an impact. Honestly, everyone looked pretty good considering that most of the players don’t have tons of international experience, and even if they do, they don’t have a lot of international experience with each other. Despite all that, they walked away putting up dominant performances across both games and no one felt like a net negative.

On Wednesday, the US will face Canada at Audi Field in Washington D.C. This will be a much more interesting test for this particular group of players especially. I think we’ll see a lot of the players that started on Thursday return to the starting XI. I’ll be curious to see how the team does against tougher competition and a rival as well. On to the Continental Clásico!