When you were 17, what was your biggest accomplishment in life?



For Mallory Pugh, the answer seems pretty simple after serving as a starter and goal-assister for the US women’s national team in a clean sweep through Rio Olympic qualifying this month.

It’s not just because Pugh is very good – which she is – but because the national team program finally looks ready for some shake-ups after relieving the built-up pressure to win a Women’s World Cup last summer.

Showing favor over some of the team’s veteran staple starters, coach Jill Ellis has launched a youth movement in a team that was the oldest average age at last summer’s World Cup. The Americans won the trophy, of course, but no longer is Ellis’s focus just on getting through to the next big tournament. Now Ellis and the US is building toward the 2019 Women’s World Cup and beyond.

With that, comes a group of new faces who are trying to catch Ellis’ eye and take advantage of an opportunity to break into the top team in the world. But have any of them pushed their way into starting contention? And, further ahead, can a new Girls’ Development Academy continue the conveyer belt of talent?

Impressive Pugh should be on her way to Rio

The question that pundits seemed to ask repeatedly during this month’s Concacaf qualifiers was whether Pugh was really as confident as she appeared when she played, or if she was just too young and inexperienced to know any better? As of Sunday, when she played 90 minutes against Canada and notched an assist en route to a gold medal in the qualifying tournament, it’s safe to say she earned to be called the former: confident, aggressive and crafty.

The high school senior was recently close to making history by skipping college to play professionally in the US, with the Portland Thorns taking the needed steps to acquire her. She later committed to UCLA, but it became clear why the Thorns went after her so enthusiastically. Her ability to take on and then beat opponents, as well as create chances for her teammates, makes her look far more polished than her mere 17 years of experience. (This step-over and assist against Puerto Rico serves as a quintessential example.)

The midfield belongs to Horan

It’s hard to imagine the US team without Heather O’Reilly. She has been a staple since she was 17 and still, at age 31, remains one of the fittest and most resilient players in the player pool. But when she was left off the roster for qualifying, it was the surest sign that Ellis is ready to turn to a younger and perhaps more technical generation. To that end, players like Lindsey Horan, Samantha Mewis and Stephanie McCaffrey could be the ones keeping her from returning.

Kelley O’Hara and Lindsey Horan celebrate Tobin Heath’s goal against Canada. Photograph: Thomas Shea/USA Today Sports

While Mewis still seems a ways from being a finished product and McCaffrey’s landing place is unclear, 21-year-old Horan made a strong case that her decision to leave Paris Saint-Germain to get minutes with the national team was the right one. Though she played forward in Paris and will probably again in Portland this coming National Women’s Soccer League season, Ellis seems to have found a replacement for the retired Lauren Holiday in the central midfield. Horan has been excellent on set pieces, her ball distribution has been key and she’s put her technical quality on display one-on-one throughout qualifying.

Questions linger in the full-back positions

Jaelene Hinkle was plucked from the NWSL to play for the US, which has looked thin on outside backs over the last year or so. Ellis has hinted that a major benefit in Hinkle is that she a left-footed left back – but that may not end up being enough. Hinkle, 22, never really stood out in qualifying, looking at times uncomfortable with both the speed of play and the attacking duties that come with being a full-back for the US.

That could create an opening for Kelley O’Hara to reclaim her spot, at least as the go-to substitute behind left-back Meghan Klingenberg and right back Ali Krieger. O’Hara played every minute of the 2012 Olympics as a left back, but through injury, coaching changes and new blood slowly lost her spot. After a positive qualifying campaign, she looks poised to rise in the ranks again. But there’s the possibility Ellis wants a longer-term fixture where 31-year-old Krieger has been a long-time starter, and 27-year-old O’Hara could slot in there, too.

The problem is, Ellis doesn’t have many other tested full-back options if she doesn’t like the ones that she has, and that creates some real questions for Rio and beyond.

Girls Academy ought to continue youth movement

While Ellis may be thinking ahead to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, US Soccer is ready to add the support to look beyond that – and it is perhaps not a moment too soon.

The US has always held an advantage in women’s soccer. Other countries neglected their women’s programs while US Soccer invested resources, and many countries discouraged girls from playing soccer while the sport grew into the top participation sport for American girls, creating a massive potential player pool. But the women’s game has become more challenging to navigate as more countries around the world are changing their attitudes.

In other words, the US is at its biggest risk of falling behind these days, even despite winning a World Cup last summer. That’s why the US federation is launching a new program to cultivate better young soccer players who will become the star players of future World Cups.

Catching up to what has been a decade-long effort on the boys’ side, US Soccer announced this week plans to launch a Girls’ Development Academy Program next fall. The program will start with clubs in three age groups from 14 to 19 and seek to standardize the training and guidance young soccer players are receiving, something that has lacked on the women’s side.



Jaelene Hinkle, left, and Carli Lloyd, middle: the best of young and old? Photograph: Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports

“For me it’s quite simple, and for Jill Ellis it’s quite simple – five years ago we had two full-time employees in the youth national team game,” said April Heinrichs, US Soccer’s technical director on the women’s side. “We’re now looking at hiring potentially 10 to 15 new people on a full-time basis to improve the women’s game. There’s going to be a large budget to run that league that doesn’t exist in the game today.”

US Soccer projects as many as 80 clubs across the country could join the program, with many throughout both the NWSL and Major League Soccer expressing interest. US Soccer already operates and financially supports the NWSL, the top domestic women’s pro league.

The academy announcement comes at a time when US Soccer is in a legal dispute with the women’s national team players union over their labor agreement, and the union’s lawyer accused US Soccer of double standards for the women in an interview with the Guardian. But the girls’ academy had long been in the works, with Heinrichs having conversations as far back as five years ago and an announcement of the program rumored late last year.

The US women hoisting the trophy in Canada has sparked heightened enthusiasm for women’s soccer – as has been seen with the NWSL’s post-World Cup success – and makes the timing for the academy ripe, Heinrichs said.

“When we look at all these new resources and interested parties post-World Cup-win that want to invest in and be part of our youth national team program on the girls side, it’s an easy decision,” she said on a conference call with reporters.

US Soccer appears to be stepping a bit on the toes of the Elite Clubs National League, which receives no support from the federation and is the country’s top development league for young girls. US Soccer, however, is going to follow the model it has set and refined on the boys side. The boys program under coach and technical director Jurgen Klinsmann has appeared to be successful, at least preliminarily, with moderately better results in youth World Cups and more young Americans finding paths to go pro.

While US Soccer’s youth scouting in the past focused on identifying the strong, fastest and most athletic players – the kind of players who could dominate in the previous era of women’s soccer – the academy initiative will focus on technical skills and tactics. Players who aren’t challenged in their age bracket won’t stick around and wallop opposing teams to make coaches look good, as often happened in the past. They will instead be encouraged to “play up” to continue their development.

Looking to 17-year-old Pugh, it seems that is a model that has certainly worked.

“There’s no better example than Mallory Pugh,” Heinrichs said. “Three years ago, she was on our under-17 national team and she bypassed our Under-18 and Under-19 teams and went straight to our Under-20 team and was one of the best players on our U-20 team. ‘Playing up’ is a really important part of development.”

If the new girls academy system can churn out a few more players like Pugh, it would be hard to count it as anything other than a success. But that won’t be known for at least another World Cup or two.