United States girls’s nationwide group head coach Emma Hayes sung the praises of 17-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes once more on Friday, saying Yohannes has a vivid future with this system.
Hayes additionally reiterated the necessity for endurance from the general public, nevertheless, citing Yohannes’ youth and relative inexperience.
“She’s received unbelievable maturity and coachability, and somebody who I do know goes to develop into an vital a part of our program,” Hayes informed reporters. “However I am invested in that growth, and we now have to be affected person with that contemplating her tender age and her lack of worldwide and high-level expertise.”
Yohannes rejoined the USWNT this week for upcoming video games in opposition to China and Jamaica. Saturday’s sport in opposition to China might be performed at Allianz Area in St. Paul, Minnesota — the positioning of Yohannes’ first cap and first objective almost a yr in the past to the day.
“It is loopy to be again right here,” Yohannes mentioned in a video launched by U.S. Soccer. “That was such a particular second for me, so to be again right here is sort of full circle.”
Yohannes has six caps after formally deciding to symbolize the USWNT final fall.
The Netherlands, the place the Virginia-born midfielder and her household have been based mostly since she was 10 years previous, recruited Yohannes to play for this system however Yohannes finally selected her native nation.
Yohannes presently performs for the storied Dutch membership Ajax Amsterdam. She signed knowledgeable contract with the membership at 15 years previous. In 2023, as a 16-year-old, she turned the youngest participant to ever begin a UEFA Girls’s Champions League match in Ajax’s historic group-stage win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Sources informed ESPN’s Emily Keogh earlier this month that English champions Chelsea — Hayes’ former membership — are focused on signing Yohannes through switch this summer time.
“As I maintain saying to everybody, she’s 17,” Hayes mentioned. “She’s received a few years of expertise as knowledgeable. I feel the following two years of growth might be vital for her.
“I feel it has been an unbelievable growth pathway for her to be at Ajax. That, for me, I feel, has superior her positional play in a manner that I feel makes her stand out past her years.
“She’s bodily developed within the final 12 months. Tactically in possession, when she performs for her membership group, they often have the ball in opposition to form of mid-to-low blocks. So, I feel she’s developed that facet of her play.”
Yohannes narrowly missed out on making the USWNT’s Olympic roster final yr. On the time, she had not but determined whether or not to symbolize the U.S. or the Netherlands.
The U.S. went on to earn a fifth Olympic gold medal, a world file. The Netherlands didn’t qualify for the match.
Yohannes lately starred for the USWNT in a 2-0 win over Brazil in April in a 2024 Olympic gold-medal sport rematch, coming off the bench within the second half and incomes a penalty kick a couple of minutes later. She began the next match in opposition to Brazil, a 2-1 loss a couple of days later.
Yohannes additionally began as a box-to-box midfielder for the USWNT in a 2-1 February loss to fellow world energy Japan. She helped arrange the lone U.S. objective that day.
And she or he offered a secondary help earlier within the SheBelieves Cup in a 2-0 win over Colombia by offering a line-cutting by way of ball to teammate Yazmeen Ryan.
Hayes tried to mood fast expectations after these outcomes. She did so once more on Friday.
“I feel for us, taking part in in opposition to opponents like Brazil and Japan, had been extraordinarily high-level video games that can serve her nicely sooner or later,” Hayes mentioned.
“However as I all the time maintain saying, she’s received a number of growth to do, and I feel it is going to be up and down. And I feel that we’ll see actually good moments from I feel we’ll see detached moments. I feel it is what you possibly can count on from a 17-year-old.”
