The U.S. women’s national team opened the 2026 SheBelieves Cup with a 2-0 win over Argentina in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday, March 1.
Emma Hayes opted for a unique 4-5-1 defensive shape with Jaedyn Shaw playing in a roaming attacking midfielder role behind Jameese Joseph up top. While the unusual setup didn’t produce an attacking masterclass, the job was completed at Geodis Park.
The U.S. got off to a hot start when Emma Sears set up Lindsey Heaps for a left-footed goal from the top of the box in the 19th minute. However, Argentina’s press made the first half more difficult than expected for the Americans.
Argentina continued to cause problems coming out of the break, but the U.S. finally grabbed a hold of the game when Shaw added a second goal for the team to ease the pressure. After going up 2-0, Hayes’ side confidently saw out the remaining half-hour to clinch the win.
Let’s take a look back at how the USWNT players fared in the opening win of the SheBelieves Cup.
GK: Claudia Dickey – 7
After over 200 minutes of soccer in 2026, a USWNT goalkeeper finally had to make a save. Dickey was up to the task when Argentina beat the USA’s offside trap and stood strong against a one-on-one chance that was blasted at her.
CB: Kennedy Wesley – 7
While she didn’t have a ton to do defensively, her distribution out of the back was on point. She was a perfect 4/4 on long balls and finished the match with a 94% passing percentage.
CB: Tara Rudd – 6.5
She wasn’t as active in distributing out of the back as her partner, but still did what was needed on the defensive side of things. A few unnecessary giveaways need to be cleaned up.
RB: Gisele Thompson – 6
Tasked with adding width on the right side, she was never much of a factor in the attacking end. While tidy on the ball and responsible defensively, it was a pretty quiet day for her.
CM: Olivia Moultrie – 7
Often tucking into the midfield to become a creative spark, she played the role well as she was credited with a big chance created and two key passes. In addition to being a creative force, she was also key in winning back possession and controlling the midfield.
CM: Lindsey Heaps – 8.5
The captain led the way by getting the team off and running with a fantastic curling effort that soared past the goalkeeper. In addition to finding the net, she added an assist and hardly misplaced a pass all day. It’s the type of performance you come to expect from her on a match-by-match basis.
CM: Lily Yohannes – 6.5
It was quite a pedestrian performance for the do-it-all midfielder. While she must be credited for being aggressive and taking chances, a lot of her attempts to create chances didn’t pan out. One particular moment in the second half, leading a three-on-two counter-attack ended with a poor decision by her. Despite the lack of final product, she was everywhere in the midfield with five defensive contributions and nine ball recoveries.
RM: Emma Sears – 7
Once again, the most consistently dangerous attacker for the side. Her pace and directness causes a problem for any opposition as it did in this match. She was unfortunate to not get credit for an assist on the opening goal as she did the hard part of penetrating into the box and cutting a ball back to the top of the 18 to a wide open Heaps. While her pass was deemed to have taken a deflection and she wasn’t credited with the assist, it was clearly a goal created with her dynamism on the wing.
CAM: Jaedyn Shaw – 7
There was a lot of responsibility laid on Shaw’s shoulders in this one as she was deployed as the team’s main chance creator, playing behind the striker. While it wasn’t an extremely dynamic match for her, she did find the back of the net right before coming off the field. The goal was a curling effort that the Argentine goalkeeper probably should’ve kept out of the net.
LM: Maddie Dahlien – 6
Pulled at halftime for tactical reasons, Dahlien had four defensive contributions in her shift. With only a couple of chances to get forward, she had a penalty shout go ignored after beating a defender in the box and going down. Otherwise, it was a quiet 45 minutes for her.
ST: Jameese Joseph – 6
Getting a big chance to prove herself with something resembling a full squad, she didn’t get involved too much in 45 minutes. Her persistence paid off on the goal, as she won possession around the penalty area, with a play that could’ve easily been called a foul but wasn’t. That hard work turned into the first goal of the match. Soon after she had a goal wiped off due to a questionable offside call that appeared to be the wrong decision. Unfortunately, other than those two moments, she had little to do otherwise.
Sub: Claire Hutton – 6
Did her job of helping control the midfield when coming on. Added some needed progressive passing in her 45 minutes on the field.
Sub: Lilly Reale – NR
An unfortunate runout for the youngster as she had to limp off injured just 12 minutes after coming onto the field as a halftime change.
Sub: Trinity Rodman – 6
She had a couple of dangerous moments after entering the match. However, her shift ended in worrisome fashion after getting clattered into by an Argentine player and appearing to injure her back. She finished the match out on the sidelines.
Sub: Ally Sentnor – 5.5
Really didn’t have a chance to impact the match after coming on. She only had a handful of touches and no attacking chances to speak of.
Sub: Emily Fox – 5.5
Not involved a ton in her 30 minutes. However, eight possessions lost in only half of an hour is not exactly what you want to see from a sub.
Sub: Alyssa Thompson – 6
Despite only playing 20 minutes, she was lively and dangerous. She was credited with a key pass and looked a threat the few times on the ball.
