It’s ‘go time’ for Jaedyn Shaw as the young USWNT star aims to make the Olympic team

The 19-year-old playmaker could be the Americans' breakout star at the Olympics, with seven goals and one assist in 12 national team games already.

Jaedyn Shaw (right) has 12 USWNT caps and hopes to make the 18-player Olympic squad.Read moreAndy Lyons / Getty Images

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published May 31, 2024, 5:28 p.m. ET

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Jaedyn Shaw’s presence on the U.S. women’s soccer team seems almost natural now, such is her great talent as a scorer and creator.

But she’s still just 19 years old, and has played for her country just 12 times, the first of which came just last October. It hasn’t even been two years since she made her professional club debut for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave at age 17.

So even as a likely ticket to the Olympics awaits, it bears saying that it will be a new experience for her. There might be bumps in the road, whether before or during a summer group-stage gauntlet of Zambia, Germany, and Australia. World champions Spain, host France, Japan, Brazil, and other big teams also are in what might be the most stacked 12-team field in women’s soccer history.

Having said that, now you can rev up the hype train. If Shaw makes the Olympic team, you’ll see a lot of people pick her as the Americans’ potential breakout star, and for good reason. The Dallas-area native has seven goals and one assist already for the national team, to go with 12 goals and 5 assists in 43 games for the Wave.

“It would be a dream to be in the Olympics,” Shaw said on the eve of Saturday’s game against South Korea (5 p.m., TNT, Univero, Max, Peacock), the debut of new manager Emma Hayes. “I try not to think about it too much — just focusing on getting there is on my mind right now, and just doing what I can to make the roster and make the team better, and be a value for this team.”

Shaw’s value has come not just from her goals and assists, but from her personality. It may sound trite to say vibes matter with a national team, but they really do. The players aren’t together for long, so building quick chemistry matters. Shaw has done that with Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and others, and has Alex Morgan and Naomi Girma as club teammates in San Diego.

“I think we have a fun group,” Shaw said. “There’s a lot of different personalities, I think we all get on really well, and I think it works. We have a lot of different people but I think it really works, and it and it’s fun being here.”

Things will turn serious on Saturday and again next Tuesday when the U.S. and South Korea meet again in St. Paul, Minn. (8 p.m., truTV, Universo, Max, Peacock). These are the last two games before Hayes picks the Olympic team, so every play counts.

“It’s go time,” Shaw said. “We’re here, we’re integrating with her, and getting to know her a bit, and the way she does things. I think we’re all just really taking it on, and just enjoying the process.”

Hayes’ message

If you’re the sort of fan who likes coaches to give charismatic news conferences, you’ll like Hayes a lot. She had plenty to say Friday, in answering serious and less-serious questions alike.

One of the big talking points was how she plans to address the big decision she’ll make to pick the 18-player Olympic squad, plus four alternates who will travel in case of injury. Hayes said she isn’t thinking about that yet, but she knows it’s on the horizon.

“There is no denying there is an unbelievable talent pool in this country, and selecting a group of players to represent this country is of course going to be a difficult one,” she said. “Because every single player — not just involved in this camp, but players on the outside of that — is so desperate to represent [the] USA in the Olympics. So of course it’s challenging, but not one that I’m not used to doing.”

The roster deadline is in early July. So Hayes will have some time to think about it after this camp ends.

“The camp objectives this week have been developing an introduction to the structural principles, principles of play,” she said. “It’s been about building trust; it’s been about making sure everybody understands what the expectations are. So it’s a process, and we’ve got to go one step at a time, and for me the focus is on tomorrow.”

Hayes likes what she has seen so far from a group of players with a range of resumés — young and old, NWSL-based and Europe-based.

“Listen, we all know the main ingredients of the American DNA, and that will not change under my stewardship,” she said, an obvious headline quote. “I think there’s been a better tactical understanding than I anticipated. But for me, the most important thing has been the ability to grasp information really, really quickly and learn.”

Hayes called the players “unbelievable sponges,” and said: “No matter what we’ve thrown at them, they’re taking it on, they’re absorbing it. This team is desperate to improve, and it’s focused on the performances and the processes to do that.”

Special guests

Saturday’s game will be preceded by the U.S. women’s Deaf National Team playing against Australia. The game will be televised on truTV and streamed on YouTube by Telemundo (in Spanish), giving a big platform to one of U.S. Soccer’s many extended national teams.

The deaf team got to join the star-studded senior squad on the field Friday afternoon for photos. On Saturday both teams will wear warmup shirts that say “Champ” in American sign language, a salute to the deaf team being the reigning world champions. They came under U.S. Soccer’s umbrella in 2022.

“It’s crazy to imagine that we’re here on the same field as the regular senior national team, and we’re getting some of the same opportunities,” forward Sophie Post said.

Goalkeeper Taegan Frandsen said “it’s definitely not something all of us expected at all, and it’s so cool that we got that opportunity to be on this world stage.”