For the first time since the U.S. Women’s National Team triumphed in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Gold medal game, forwards Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson, and Mallory Swanson - or ‘Triple Espresso’ as they have since become known - are back together.

With Rodman back to full fitness after a litany of injury issues and both Wilson and Swanson having returned after giving birth, head coach Emma Hayes can finally see what her full-strength attacking line-up could look like come the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, with the USWNT set to take on the host nation in two friendlies this month.

The first is scheduled for Saturday at 5:30pm ET at Neo Química Arena in São Paulo, with Hayes emphasizing the importance of her three star forwards reconnecting during the course of their time in South America when speaking on Friday.

“I think for those three, it's just about getting them, I said this before camp, it's about recreating their connections again, off the field first,” she said. “It's been two years, almost two years since they've been together.

“So, whether that's connecting them back into each other's lives and then creating those connections on the pitch, which definitely, at this moment in time, there are three different stages.

“Mal, I've been really vocal that just coming back is the furthest behind in that regard, but the excitement she's had about reconnecting with the team again and wanting to see from a challenge perspective where she's at with that, and the gratitude on her face every day.

“You can see she's so excited to be back with the team and being pushed in a certain way. So I think for the three of them, I hope that I get the chance to do this every camp because I don't know too many teams in the world that can be without their top three forwards for that length of time, which is why I'm so proud of our whole group, because we've been developing in their absence, and now they're back.

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“I think it's been clear that we have many more strings to our bow than two years ago.”

That bow faces a stern test both on Saturday and then on Tuesday in Fortaleza at the Arena Castelão, with Hayes explaining that she expects these games to be more ‘chaotic’ than their previous three against Japan in April.

“Japan versus Brazil, equally good teams, but the differences in the game is such that my job is to expose our players to those differences and prepare them, but obviously with the way that we want to impose ourselves in mind,” Hayes said.

“That means exposing the players to a lot of chaos because that is what the game will look like. There is 117 percent more throw-ins in this game. There are no eight-plus pass sequences, zero when you play against Brazil.

“So you have to set the conditions for the players to be able to accept that, and then find our way to assert control in the game when there isn't a lot of controlling moments in a 1v1 game. So we've been working on those elements.”

Source: Alloutsoccer.com