USWNT's triple espresso plan to mount comeback in 2026 after major life changes, Emma Hayes' team overhaul

LOS ANGELES – In a dimly lit, bare-bones ballroom on a Thursday morning, Trinity Rodman made a discovery; Mallory Swanson was tucked away in a corner, completing her obligations at the NWSL's annual media day. In no time at all, Rodman broke into a sprint to greet Swanson for a long-awaited embrace and then very literally jump for joy at their reunion. 

"Oh my gosh, when was the last time I saw Mal?," Rodman pondered shortly after, and then took a long pause. "I don't know. It's been a while because I didn't see her through her whole pregnancy. It's been a very long time since I've seen Mal."

Roughly 15 minutes later, Sophia Wilson made her way into the ballroom and parked herself a few feet away from Rodman. Within a few minutes she was interrupted during her own media scrum by Swanson for a quick chat and a big laugh. Swanson joked she "almost cried" upon seeing Wilson on her way into the ballroom and they, in unison, recalled a question Swanson asked her during the interaction: "Soph, I love you, but where's Gigi?," Wilson's months-old daughter.

It was the first time the trio had been in the same room in nearly a year and a half, when they jointly scored 10 goals en route to the U.S. women's national team's latest Olympic gold medal – and won the moniker of triple espresso. In Paris, the group had lived up to the potential many had seen in them for years as the next stars of women's soccer's most storied national team. Since, life has taken them on different paths away from the USWNT and turned the longtime colleagues and friends into ships passing in the night. Their lives have changed in some way or another since -- Rodman is now the highest-paid player in the history of the women's game after signing a landmark new deal with the Washington Spirit, and finally feels fit enough to put an injury-laden 2025 behind her. Wilson and Swanson, meanwhile, went on maternity leave last year and welcomed daughters within months of each other.

Each, though, is prepared to mount a comeback in 2026, their paths converging once again ahead of a crucial NWSL season. For most in the world of women's soccer, the 2027 Women's World Cup is top of mind -- play consistently for the next year and change, they may find themselves on the USWNT roster bound for Brazil with hopes of winning a fifth world championship. Strong form at the club level is the minimum requirement to break into Emma Hayes' roster for a friendly and will certainly be a top consideration for November's World Cup qualification tournament, meaning the timing is perfect for the triple espresso to mark their comebacks. Naturally, though, each member of the trio is at different stages of their journey.

Two months after welcoming her daughter Josie, Swanson said there is currently no timeline for her return to the pitch as she and her club take things little by little. She has been in touch with the Chicago Stars' sporting department but has yet to speak to new head coach Martin Sjogren about her return to the pitch.

"I think it's more just about completing phases and just kind of taking it week-by-week, day-by-day, but yeah, not an exact date yet, but I'm hoping soon," Swanson said. "They've been giving me my time of just figuring mom life out and keeping a little human alive."

Wilson, who had her daughter a few months earlier, is back in training and hopes to be available for the Portland Thorns in time for the start of the NWSL season in mid-March -- and perhaps earlier.

"I will be ready for opening day," Wilson said. "I hope to get small minutes in [the] SheBelieves [Cup in early March with the USWNT] just to get back into it. I miss the team. I hate not being in camp so hoping that I get to be in camp with the girls and get some minutes there and then be ready for opening day."

Rodman has only compliments for Swanson and Wilson, who are now the latest in a growing list of female soccer players who are balancing the demands of professional sports with those of motherhood.

"I'm pumped," she said. "Obviously, them coming back from pregnancy is amazing in itself and how good Soph is looking already on the field after having her baby is -- I don't know, I'm in awe of all the moms because it's insane. It's already insane without a kid and now then bringing one in, but I'm so excited for them to be back. Obviously, they're on different timelines, but I can't wait for the next camp when we're all together, for sure."

Rodman, meanwhile, is perhaps most likely to make an instant impact when the NWSL returns on March 13, her back and MCL injuries starting to become a sign of the past. She played a total of 90 minutes in the USWNT's two friendlies over the last week, no obvious playing time restriction impeding her ability to participate outside of Hayes' minutes management plan for all players at the early stages of their preseasons. There's a new professional maturity about Rodman, too, after serving as the most-experienced player on a youthful USWNT roster this month and wearing the captain's armband for the first time. A hectic week, though, calls for some downtime before the NWSL season gets underway.

"Yesterday, I was supposed to hang out with my family and they knew not to call me," she said. "I slept until like 1:30 [p.m]. I didn't leave my bed, didn't take my bonnet off, but yeah, [tennis player] Ben [Shelton, her boyfriend] is going to be in Florida for the next couple of weeks before the next tournament while I'm also in Florida for preseason so I'm like, 'Oh, I love Orlando,' so I'll hang out with him a little bit while I'm there. That'll be good."

A new-look USWNT awaits for triple espresso

While things have changed for the triple espresso, the team in which they once coalesced has changed alongside them. Hayes has used the last year and change to expand the player pool and welcome in a round of younger players, an experimentation process that was at times furthered by injuries and other unavailabilities to senior team players. If and when the triple espresso's USWNT reunion comes, it will be in an entirely different setting than the last time they wore the national team's colors. That is not such a bad thing, though.

"It's been fun," Wilson said. "I've never watched this much soccer as a fan, so it's been fun in that perspective. It's been fun to see all these new faces on the national team get opportunities, score goals, get first caps. I think that's so important to create depth in the system because you need depth. They're long years. Tournaments are long, a lot of games, so it's been fun to watch and I think it's exciting to just to see kind of how everything's coming together."

Rodman has had some touchpoints with the emerging USWNT talents, most recently in this month's camp in which she was the only player with 20 or more caps. Though she is reluctant to call herself a veteran at 23, her experience came in handy as a handful of players began their national team careers.

"I think there's like this assumption that I only know how to lead by being funny and dancing and running my butt off, but I do speak. I do have good words to say," she said. "I think it's just reassuring, especially the younger players that this is the same thing you've been doing since you were a little kid and there's this feeling as a new, younger player of, 'I'm always playing bad, it's been so bad. My last training was bad,' and I felt that energy and I would just go up to people individually like Ayo [Oke], I went up to a couple times because she had come in late as a new player and that alone is scary and I was just checking in on her being like, 'Are you good?,' and she's like, 'Oh gosh, I'm nervous.' At the game,  she was freaking out in the locker room but in a good way, good nerves, but I would just be like, 'Ayo, you've had an amazing week. You're a great outside back,' and at the end of the day, we have a coach – so grateful to have a coach that believes in us and even when we mess up, she's clapping about it."

The newness of the USWNT's new mainstays, though, means the triple espresso does not necessarily feel the same burden to play catch-up upon their return.

"I almost think it's like taking pressure off of such a chaotic time -- not chaotic, just a busy time because everybody's kind of in the same place of like, okay, we're kind of inching towards the World Cup but we have a lot of new players," Rodman said. "It's just a lot of interchange and this last camp was honestly a lot of fun and I'd said that in the team talk at the end. This has been so good, the energy's been great, everyone's been hanging out together so just the common understanding of this is a weird time, we're all going through the growing pains of leading into it and me coming from a different place and everybody else, we're all coming from different places but I don't know, it's been cool to be a part of."

Hayes also played a helping hand for the likes of Swanson and Wilson, who have received unprecedented support from the national team following the USWNT's 2022 equal pay settlement with U.S. Soccer and the head coach's own initiatives to support players during and after pregnancy.

"I feel like I had all the support in the world," Wilson said about Hayes. "I remember when I had to call Emma and tell her, I was like, 'I don't know what she's gonna say,' but I felt excited to tell her because I've been in camp with her and her son Harry and I love Harry. It's like my little guy in camp so I knew she would be nothing but excited for me. Obviously, it's like telling your boss that you can't work for a year so that's what it is, but she was so happy for me and just like, 'Whatever you need, we will be here for you and support you and whenever you're ready, if that's at this moment, if that's in a longer amount of time, whatever.' Everyone's body is different. It's such a crazy thing that you go through and she gets that and I think that's a really special relationship to have and she's been -- I mean, she's obsessed with Gigi. Every time I'm around her, she's like, 'Gigi,' and I'm like, 'What about me?'"

New moms in the sport are also more likely to have ex-teammates to call upon than those in previous generations, a resource they value.

"I reached out to Alex [Morgan] and then also Cheyna [Matthews] and I think the biggest thing, what I've learned so far is everyone's pregnancy and postpartum is so different and I think that's just women in general, but then also put the athlete side to it," Swanson said. "it's nice to have that connection with them and see what worked for them and try it out for myself and if it works, it sticks, if it doesn't, then try something different and then also it's just been really nice having Soph literally going through the same exact thing of pregnancy and postpartum and everything together has been super special as well."

The days of diverging paths, though, may officially be in the past for the triple espresso.

"Those are my girls," Wilson said. "Even off the field, those are my sisters and just being close is important for us."