With a new teen star and high-octane press, the USWNT is fun again

The four-decade history of the U.S. women's national team is bursting with splendid talent and legends of the game. It's full of brilliant attackers and ruthless finishers. It's Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers; Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd. It's Hall of Famers, soccer royalty and household names — none of whom ever did what 19-year-old Jaedyn Shaw accomplished on Saturday.

Shaw, in a 2-1 U.S. win over Japan, became the first player to score in each of her first five USWNT starts.

And she is a central reason that, after years of insipidity, the USWNT is fun again.

She was the star of Saturday's SheBelieves Cup semifinal in Atlanta. She ignited a crowd of 50,644, the largest ever for an unofficial USWNT match on home soil, with her goal in the 21st minute.

But she was far from the only one.

Mallory Swanson, back from the patellar tendon tear that sidelined her for almost a year, played with energy and verve.

Sam Coffey created Shaw's goal by charging into the attacking third and winning a duel — as she did all afternoon, and as she did in last month's Gold Cup final.

None of those three were Down Under for the 2023 World Cup, which, by all accounts, was a mostly joyless experience. Pressure seemed to paralyze the USWNT. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski's tactics discombobulated them. The result was stale, stagnant, uninspiring soccer — and the earliest World Cup exit in program history.

The aftermath brought change. Andonovski resigned. Veterans retired. Newcomers arrived. The roster evolved. And the first few months of evolution were occasionally painful. A dull draw in October reinforced pessimism. A 2-0 loss to Mexico in February felt like disheartening evidence of a new normal.

It led, though, to Saturday, to perhaps the best all-around USWNT performance since 2021.

Even a Japanese goal in the very first minute couldn't muffle a high-octane show.

It was a stark departure from last year's SheBelieves Cup. The USWNT beat Japan on a brisk February 2023 afternoon, but its sloppiness and slowness proved ominous. Andonovski's U.S. looked hopeless trying to play through Japan's smart and aggressive press. The Japanese, on the other hand, were coordinated and confident in possession, and out-shot the Americans 15-5.

Saturday's first half was quite the contrast. The U.S. press, when had been so "out of sync" at the World Cup, was suffocating. Led by Alex Morgan, fortified by Shaw and Swanson and Coffey and Trinity Rodman, it turned the world's second-best possession team into a turnover machine.

Time and time again, those U.S. forwards won the ball high up the field. Their aggression slowed Japan, and led to flurries of chances.

In the 15th minute, for example, with Japan scrambling, Morgan picked out a square pass to Lindsey Horan, who slotted a tidy ball to Swanson, who nearly scored.

The U.S. was also better in possession than it had been in the recent past. It built with a 3-2 base; right back Emily Fox tucked in with the two center backs; Horan and Coffey operated in a double pivot. Left back Jenna Nighswonger pushed high to join the attackers, and set up Rodman for an early chance after defender Tierna Davidson had calmly broken Japan's initial line of confrontation.

Possession percentages were close to even. But the USWNT spent the vast majority of the game, and especially the first half, in Japanese territory. This was domination — of a team that, prior to the World Cup quarterfinals, was the most impressive of any last summer in Australia and New Zealand.

The U.S. out-shot Japan 18-6. Its only shortcomings came in and around the penalty box. But Shaw solved those by stinging a 20-yard effort past a helpless goalkeeper.

And "not only did she score a brilliant goal," interim coach Twila Kilgore noted postgame, "she did a great job defensively." She contributed to other attacks with and without the ball. There was little doubt that a second goal, at some point, was coming.

It came in the 77th minute, after Shaw's second-half replacement, Sophia Smith, won a penalty. Horan converted. The U.S. held on for a narrow victory.

But it was the joy the played with, and the joy they conveyed to a record-breaking crowd, that was most impressive.

It was a welcome reprieve from the Andonovski era, and an auspicious 90 minutes with the Olympics approaching.

"Part of our DNA is to be on the front foot, and making sure we’re dictating play," Kilgore said. On Saturday, more so than they had in years against a top opponent, they did that.