by 
Alex Ferguson, who led Manchester United to an unprecedented 13 Premier League titles in 21 seasons, insisted that coaches learned less in victory than in the defeat.
That seems to suggest that Ferguson learned little during his time in England. But if he is right, then Emma Hayes’ training was just started as a coach of the national team of the women, because she had known nothing but success until last month, just like Ferguson.
She took over last spring as a manager, about two months before the Olympic Games in Paris, then won all six games in that tournament to bring the US back to the top of the medal test for the first time since 2012). That was part of an unbeaten streak of 17 games that ended three weeks ago in a 2-1 loss of Japan in the final of the Shebelieves Cup. But for Hayes the result did not teach her as much as the opponent.
“If you play against the top teams – Japan is perhaps the best in the world at the moment – I’m going to learn more about the players in the challenges of that game than I am sometimes in the victories,” she said. “You must first experience that to really know and understand what is needed to play at the highest level.”
Read more: The next Alyssa Naeeher? Angel City’s Angelina Anderson would like to shine for USWNT
In that case, Hayes and her players learned a lot against Japan because seven of the 17 women who appeared in that match were not in the Olympic team. For them the game was a wake-up call.
“I have experienced so many players who came off the field and went” Wow, that’s really high level, “said Hayes.” Then it is going to take more important steps to ensure that we learn to improve that so that we continue to improve. “
The next step in that progression comes on April 5 when the US is opposed to Brazil in Sofi Stadium in a repeat of the Olympic final last summer. It will mark the first performance of the team in the most expensive stadium in the world, which will host eight games in the Heren World Cup next summer.
Brazil and the US meet again three days later in San José.
Read more: Alyssa and Gisele Thompson make USWNT selection for Shebelieves Cup
“In terms of the importance of the game[s]We play an opponent at a high level, the next host of the World Cup, “said Hayes.
Both teams will differ from those who met in Paris. Brazil, which last played 1 December, will be without Marta, who retired after the Olympic Games from international play. The US will attack Sophia Smith, who announced her pregnancy last week, and without defender Naomi Girma, forward Mallory Swanson and midfielder Rose Lavelle, among other things, can be forward.
Hayes has not had her first-choice selection since the Olympic Games, but she sees that more as a blessing than as a curse.
“Our group will be different, purely because of the availability of players,” she said. “But I think it gives our less experienced players a different chance to see where we measure.”
Read more: Emma Hayes does not let her change your uswnt -coaching -Dream in a nightmare
Because Hayes’ commitments to Chelsea, her former employer, delayed her arrival in the US until last May, she had little time to fully evaluate the deep American talent pool for the Olympic Games. So, with the next major international tournament away for more than two years, she does that now.
In January she invited 24 U23 players for a ‘Futures Camp’, which was held in conjunction with the first national team-ups of the year. And the schedule that she put together for the Shelieves Cup included three teenagers and three players who made their senior international debut in the tournament.
“In coaching you never have ideal world scenarios in something,” said Hayes.
Sometimes that means taking a step back before you can bring two forward. Just ask Alex Ferguson.
“You can’t always measure the development through victories and loses,” said Hayes. “I always try to compete for winning, but I also understand development. And the importance of development is that [I] Must take these hard lessons early and then collaborate with the players to keep growing. “
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
