What can the USWNT learn from World Cup champions Spain? - ESPN

FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia — For decades, the United States was the gold standard in women's soccer.

The U.S. women's national team won the first World Cup in 1991 and three more since, the most of any country. They are now five-time Olympic champions after winning the gold medal in 2024. Top teams worldwide have long tried to replicate the USWNT's success, often talking about matching the relentless «American mentality» of winning.

However, the Americans enter a pair of friendlies against Spain on Saturday and Tuesday as the team ranked No. 2 in the world. Spain, not the U.S., are current World Cup title-holders and the top team in FIFA's world rankings. And Spain, not the U.S., has set the new global standard in women's soccer over the past few years by winning in style.

Spain's 2023 World Cup title cemented that position. Their entertaining, dominant, possession-based approach finally paid off on the senior level. The U.S. crashed out of that World Cup in the round of 16, the program's worst showing at a major tournament.

Individually, Spanish players are widely considered the best in the world. A Spanish player has won the Ballon d'Or for five years running.

Ahead of these two highly anticipated meetings between the U.S. and Spain, it is safe to say the apprentice has become the master: The USWNT must learn from Spain's long-term success. How?

Style of play is the easy answer, but it is outdated. Both USWNT head coach Emma Hayes and captain Lindsey Heaps pushed back this week on the framing of Spain as a possession team and the U.S. as a transitional team.

That was true of the Americans at the World Cup three years ago, when the team's direct approach proved too easy to solve for even mid-level opponents who have