Emma Hayes has fulfilled her first mission as United States women head coach, but the quarter-finals await

The United States Women’s football team wanted to bounce back from World Cup heartbreak last year at the Olympics

Emma Hayes has guided the USA women’s football team out of the group stages (AFP via Getty Images)

Emma Hayes didn’t win seven Women’s Super League titles with Chelsea by chopping and changing a winning formula.

So, if the vocal fans that follow the USA women’s football team on social media were expecting anything else, they will get used to being disappointed.

The Londoner takes her new team into the Olympic semi-finals against Germany in Lyon tonight having fulfilled her first mission - restoring their self-belief after early World Cup exit in Australia last summer.

Confident group stage wins over Zambia, Germany and Australia have given the team back their swagger - nine points from nine with nine goals scored and two conceded.

But Hayes’ team were made to sweat in their quarter-final with Japan, advancing only thanks to Trinity Rodman’s injury-time winner, glimpses that the air of inevitability has not been fully restored.

Hayes showed her unpredictability and ruthlessness when she dropped Alex Morgan for this campaign but since then she’s been nothing but consistent.

With the exception of tweaks for suspensions and injuries, she’s decided to stick with the winning formula and is making no apologies about it.

“I don’t believe we’d have gone through if we’d have made too many changes,” she said.

“It’s those relationships that are developing that are putting us in a situation against a world-class opponent in a very, very short space of time.

“You need to remember that I’m still really new in this job, I haven’t had much time to work with the whole squad. I’m still learning about everybody.”

Hayes’ determination not to tinker has been rewarded by the form of her front three - Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith.

Emma Hayes has stuck with the same team throughout the group stages (Getty Images)

Emma Hayes had a difficult job to do after the USA’s World Cup heartbreak last year (REUTERS)

Liberated by the absence of Morgan, a mainstay of the USA team that won back-to-back World Cup in 2015 and 2019, they’ve gelled quickly, scoring eight of their ten goals in the tournament.

And Rodman, the daughter of controversial former NBA star Dennis, claims the Hayes effect has been instant.

“She wants everyone to be creative in their own ways and she lets that happen, while also trying to put in her structure and her principles,” she said.

“I’ve really enjoyed the impact she has made but I’m not surprised because you don’t win all those titles at Chelsea without being a very good coach.

“She is just obviously really intelligent and she wants us to thrive the way that we always have, I think that is something she embeds in the way she coaches. “She’s basically allowed us to play free and I think that’s the key for this team to be successful.”

Germany wait again in the last four and Hayes cautioned against looking towards a potential final clash with world champions Spain, who play Brazil on the other side of the draw in Marseille.

“Just because we beat them a few days ago doesn’t mean we will beat them again,” she added. “That’s not how football works is it?

“I know fans want to see flashy, but we need to play the right game for the right opponent and that’s what we’ll do.”

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