Welcome to the first U.S. women's national team squad ladder, a new series on The Athletic which will provide a periodic assessment of the senior national team roster from window to window. We've worked from a list of core and potential players over 50 deep, thanks in part to the increased importance of the under-23 program.
Necessary disclaimer: this isn't how U.S. coach Emma Hayes and her technical staff are thinking about the roster for World Cup qualifiers ahead of Brazil 2027. Rather, this is an exercise where we compiled our own individual rankings of our top 30 players, then compiled a final order together through much debate. We considered USWNT playing time and form, historical performances on the international stage and NWSL club form — plus the intangible value we think they provide to the team.
As injuries have been a major limiting factor for Hayes, we also considered long-term recoveries versus what appear to be — primarily in the case of centerback Naomi Girma and midfielder Sam Coffey — more short-term issues.
"The strength is in the size of our pack," Hayes said in her press conference at Subaru Park outside of Philadelphia, following the 2-2 draw against Spain . So, to the pack we go…
Yes, we are starting with cheating on our total number, but both Macario and Moultrie remain question marks as we inch closer to 2027.
However, both offer something very meaningful to the USWNT if and when they do get healthy. Macario, in particular, has had a hellish time with injuries, but she finished 2025 as the USWNT's top scorer. For a team looking for details, both would help.
Tordin earned her first cap against the No. 1-ranked team in the world, Spain, on Tuesday night. It's still very early in her national team career, but her 2026 NWSL season has been a standout one. She has a touch of former midfielder Tobin Heath in how she moves with the ball at her feet.
Pound-for-pound, Howell is the most physically aggressive player in this pool. She offers more than that, though, as proven by her involvement with the U.S. equalizer against Spain in the second leg. Realistically, she's still up against not only Coffey, but Claire Hutton to play meaningful minutes.
She didn't play in the Spain legs but is still part of Hayes' core group. Left-footed players are hard to come by in any position, although Reale isn't quite as dynamic in the attacking third as other fullbacks such as Avery Patterson or Gisele Thompson.
While she wasn't in the most recent camp with the USWNT, McGlynn remains the top option for the team's third goalkeeper option, though we did also consider Jordan Silkowitz and Jane Campbell (Tamerra's case for Campbell as tournament-tested as the third option was a good one).
Hayes opted to have Sentnor with the U-23s in this window to get her more minutes. At the club level, Sentnor has settled in with Angel City. She has scored five goals and added two assists since mid-August in their playoff push. If she can fine-tune her decision-making, she cracks our top 23.
Out with a torn patellar tendon, we definitely discovered Sonnett was a load-bearing pillar of this particular iteration of the USWNT. The only question is when exactly she gets back on the field, and what her form looks like in the months leading up to next summer.
We talk a lot about center-back depth for the U.S. through this ladder. Rudd holds on to our final 23-player squad spot thanks to the call-up for the Spain games, but her lack of playing time has dropped her down a chute, rather than pushing her up the ladder.
The only way Del Fava could have made a more impressive debut on the USWNT was if she'd scored the equalizer herself against Spain. The ball she played to Michelle Cooper, who provided the assist, is the kind of quality that could keep her close to Hayes' plans, which are undoubtedly dependent on the availability of players such as Girma and Sonnett.
Last year, Hayes identified Sears as the kind of player she'd love to pull off the bench during a World Cup match. Sears' pace and size (which includes her aerial ability) make her an ideal choice as a 75th-minute game-changer or an 80th-minute closer, but she's not yet made the undeniable impact against top-ranked teams to be placed higher on the ladder.
Patterson faltered against Spain, even in the context of an underwhelming first half in the USWNT's first leg. Like Reale, Patterson is still likely central to Hayes' core, but may have been overtaken by Gisele Thompson in the depth chart for the latter's defensive IQ and link-up play with wingers.
Another player who went off to the U-23s, we agreed that Shaw makes our top 23 pretty easily even without getting a look against Spain. Hayes might consider her a player still developing, but she does have an established track record with the USWNT.
After months of making her case at the club level, the NWSL Golden Boot leader needed a goal in this window to back herself as a national team player. Sanchez still has levels to reach, as she and Hayes have acknowledged across the Spain fixtures, particularly when it comes to defensive responsibilities. But she's done enough to earn a hypothetical ticket to the World Cup, and even has the goods to contend for a starting position.
We agree: PTJ's shot-stopping is excellent, and she's the No. 2 keeper at this moment. But that goal against Spain… the U.S. technical staff haven't been shy about identifying this as an area for growth .
We were pretty aligned on Cooper's place, too. Whether a winger or a right-back, Cooper has the size, skill and pace to inject energy into a match. But Hayes wants her to be more durable. Cooper's picked up sporadic knocks throughout her career, but if she's able to fortify her endurance, she'll be even more versatile.
There's no denying the value of Heaps' experience and leadership, but it's becoming costly to prioritize those traits at the expense of some of her limitations. She's not able to cover as much of the pitch as she used to, which doesn't allow a player such as Lily Yohannes to be as creative on and off the ball. Heaps can still offer a lot off the bench, though, and remains one of the few aerial threats in the core group.
Just nine caps into her senior national team career, Wesley is moving up the ranks of the center-back depth chart, especially in Girma and Sonnett's absence. Wesley alone played every single minute of both Spain matches and looked comfortable alongside Tierna Davidson and Del Fava despite playing with them both for the first time. The Stanford-to-USWNT center-back pipeline continues to thrive.
(Tamerra here) . I may have been too hesitant to include Swanson in my World Cup predictions while she was away on maternity leave. Her equalizer against Spain — on top of her contributions in the first friendly — is enough to make clear that she's still got it, even if "it" hasn't fully been restored. The competition with Alyssa Thompson for a starting spot already feels spicy.
The 20-year-old fullback was among the substitutes in the first match against Spain who earned a starting role in the second leg. She is another player that Hayes wants to be more durable, and she's been building that aspect of her game at the club level. We split our differences on her ranking, but she's a favorite as a starting fullback opposite Emily Fox.
The eldest Thompson sister is settled at Chelsea, but she still needs to improve her goalscoring and some of her decision-making in the final third at the international level. Her ball-carrying skills are crucial to the U.S. transition, though, and we feel optimistic enough about those areas of improvement to keep her close to the top of this list.
Rodman might be the winner for the most number of places between our two individual rankings, so Rodman closing out our top 10 is a compromise. She is leading the 2026 squad in goal contributions with two goals and three assists (two against Japan, one against Brazil), but in fairness, she underwhelmed a bit against Spain.
While the USWNT technical staff dances around the No. 1 keeper discussion , after these two games it does feel pretty safe to say that Dickey is the go-to option at this time. Her shot-stopping may not be quite on par with Tullis-Joyce's, but her distribution from the back is considerably calmer.
🎵I believe the children are our future…🎵 (when paired with an actual defensive midfielder that can provide coverage for Yohannes to focus on playing through the midfield.)
Davidson has really shot up this ladder over the past few months with the uncertainty around Girma and Sonnett's long-term layoff. Her leadership of a fluctuating backline can't be overlooked right now, even if the four goals the USWNT allowed against Spain were all baffling defensive miscues.
🎵…teach them well and let them lead the way 🎵 (Ah, look, a defensive midfielder!)
Coffey was Tamerra's No. 1, but she accepted a slightly lower ranking since Coffey didn't play the Spain friendlies. Though, her value was proven by the way the U.S. struggled in her absence. The stability she offers defensively (no matter who's around her), and the decisions she makes in transition, are singular to this team.
And finally, we have come to the end of our center-back journey. After Hayes decompresses from this window, the number one item on the to-do list needs to be a long phone call with Chelsea figuring out how to get Girma consistently healthy and back on the field.
One of the few true No. 9s in this core group, Wilson required a bit of discussion from us about where, exactly, she should land on the top part of this list. She is still raising her level since her return from maternity leave, which to me warranted a slightly lower ranking, but her hold-up play and chance creation are still among the top of her attacking class.
Lavelle remains a one-of-one player for the USWNT. The challenge for the rest of the team is making sure that the midfield is actually involved in build-up for goals; otherwise, she can feel isolated from impacting the game.
Fox's value has been quiet the past year or two, but she showed against Spain how dependable she can be on both sides of the ball. Similar to Crystal Dunn in 2019, she's poised to have a breakout World Cup if the U.S. qualifies.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic .
US Women's national team, NWSL, Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup
2026 The Athletic Media Company
