The U.S. women’s national team closed out 2024 on-brand: with a win. This was a big year for the USWNT, who leave it with an Olympic gold medal, a 20-match unbeaten streak overall – 15 straight under Emma Hayes – and unlimited amounts of optimism. The foundation has been rebuilt and, as this group heads into 2025, there are myriad reasons to believe.
Before moving onto 2025, though, the U.S. had two final tests in 2024: visits to England and the Netherlands. Friendlies, yes, but these were big games, on the road, in Europe, matches that were a measuring stick – particularly when you account for the absence of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson. These were final tests against the elite before the U.S. could turn the page on a truly game-changing year of soccer.
The two road tests were something of a mixed bag, but leaned positive. After a 0-0 draw with England, the U.S. came from behind to earn a 2-1 win over the Netherlands Tuesday in a game that was the far more eventful of the two. While the England game was largely middling, you saw good and bad from the USWNT in that Netherlands match. It was a game in which several rose to the occasion, and others struggled in ways that opened up new questions.
And of course, more than anything, the two matches – especially Tuesday – rounded off Alyssa Naeher’s legendary career with a yet another celebratory moment. She wore the captain’s armband in her 115th international appearance, a stretch that goes back to her debut on Dec. 18, 2014, against Argentina.
Naeher is two-time World Cup winner (2015 and 2019) and an Olympic gold medalist, with shutouts in the finals of both the 2019 World Cup and the Paris Games final this summer. Naeher had another huge game, one that served as one final reminder of how hard she’ll be to replace as she moves on.
Overall, who stood out? Whose stock rose, and whose fell? GOAL takes a look.