The U.S. women’s national team’s 2026 is underway. In what will be viewed as the final experimental roster before things start to get serious for manager Emma Hayes and her players, the U.S. breezed past Paraguay, 6-0, and then Chile, 5-0, over two January friendlies in California.
Hayes named the two fewest-capped USWNT starting XIs for 25 years—an average of 9.6 caps per player against Paraguay, and 5.2 against Chile. Even with the relative lack of experience, the heavily rotated and green American squad was too much for its South American counterparts.
