USWNT roster bubble watch: Is the door already closed to coach Emma Hayes’ core World Cup squad?

January camp featured no first-time call-ups, marking a theoretical conclusion of her experiment phase. The SheBelieves Cup in March provided more clues as to which players Hayes sees as foundational to her World Cup vision as the team defeated Argentina, Canada, and Colombia on its way to the top of the podium. But then the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season started, and based on how the first three weeks have gone (eight teams have played four games, but the other six still have three), it is hard to imagine the landscape of the USWNT’s core group remaining unchanged.

While some players firm up their spots in that coveted roster, others have put on club performances that will make Hayes’ job more difficult. “I have to leave windows where I might have a very good idea of 35 players, 40 players that I think are what we call ‘WNT core players,'” Hayes said in a press conference following the release of the USWNT roster for the Japan friendlies. “But I absolutely have to leave space for players that in over the next 12 to 15 months really, really progress because, as you know, some players drop off and some start to progress into their prime.

” That’s why this week’s “Three Words” column — in which we narrow down a standout player, team, or moment in global women’s soccer to three words and then unpack them — is slippery, stretchy, and a bit mysterious as we head into an international break in which the U. S. faces Japan three times in as many different venues.

It’s time to… Enter the bubble We made our latest World Cup roster prediction on the heels of the SheBelieves Cup, and it ruffled feathers as it always does. Predictions are messy, and it is challenging to designate a player on a depth chart when they have not played for an extended period of time, whether due to injury (center back Tierna Davidson and winger Michelle Cooper) or maternity leave (forwards Sophia Wilson and Mallory Swanson). Add to that Hayes’ accelerated developmental track for all USWNT players who have been to camp in the past 15 months, and those calculations get murkier.