Sophia Smith isn’t Alex Morgan, but the USWNT’s whole attack is different, too

WASHINGTON — For all the players, coaches, and tactics the U.S. women’s soccer team has deployed over the years, a few traits stayed the same across generations.

One that’s always easy to spot is the presence of a big-time focal point atop the attack: from Mia Hamm to Tiffeny Milbrett to Abby Wambach to Alex Morgan, with many others along the way.

They feasted on 20-plus years of service from equally elite providers: Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy, Megan Rapinoe, Heather O’Reilly, Tobin Heath.

Now the torch has been passed again, to Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith, and Trinity Rodman. They are electric players, capable of scoring and creating for each other.

But new manager Emma Hayes doesn’t want there to be just one focal point anymore. Instead, she wants the trio to rotate positions up front during games. So they have, and it’s been clear to see in recent games.

» READ MORE: Emma Hayes aims to answer an eternal USWNT question: Slow down more or shoot first?

“I’ve always wanted to play in a front line where it’s really fluid,” said Smith, who starts as the central striker and then moves wide. “Having a front line that’s so fluid is so hard to defend, and I feel like that just gives us a plus-one against opponents. And it’s fun to not feel restricted in one spot of the field. So I enjoy it.”

On paper, this is a great thing. It has huge potential to confound opponents and produce goals.

But in the Americans’ last game before the Olympics, Tuesday’s scoreless tie with Costa Rica, it produced no goals from 26 shots, including 12 on target. Those totals, plus 67 touches in the box, are the highest figures recorded by the U.S. women in a 0-0 game in the last decade.

A lot of those shots weren’t great, either, by the eye test or the stats. The U.S. team’s expected goals total, which measures the quality of shots taken, was 1.82. That means the average shot’s expected value was 0.07, which is as small as you think it is.

» READ MORE: USWNT’s offense sputters in 0-0 tie with Costa Rica in last Olympics tuneup

That this game followed Saturday’s 1-0 win over Mexico further amplified the concern. The U.S. probably won’t face a defense as packed-in as Costa Rica’s at the Olympics because its big-time opponents will want to play ball, but lots of foes over the years have known that the best way to beat the U.S. is to bunker in and counterattack.

When you’re facing that kind of defense, you can’t always pick it apart with passes. Sometimes you have to hit it with a battering ram, and on Tuesday, it felt like the U.S. didn’t have one.

“We’re doing everything we can to try to move them, to get them out of position,” Rodman said. “Today, it was just a matter of putting the ball in the right place because they weren’t moving. They were staying put, and, for us, that was a challenge. But it’s just the finishing, and that will come.”

Perhaps if Rose Lavelle had played Saturday instead of being held out for an injury precaution — unquestionably the right move with the Olympics so close — things would have been different because she isn’t afraid to fire from range. Or if Jaedyn Shaw had started over Lavelle’s replacement, Korbin Albert, or even just entered the game earlier.

» READ MORE: Briana Scurry knows the kids she inspired as a player are now U.S. team stars

Even if either of those things had happened, though, it wouldn’t have solved another aspect of the battering ram point: a lack of size up front. Rodman has it at 5-foot-10, but Smith is 5-6 and Swanson is 5-4.

When Swanson is playing the central striker spot, as she often has under Hayes, it isn’t always easy to find her with a cross into traffic.

None of them have to be the same kind of player as Morgan to be successful, as Smith pointed out on Monday.

“She is who she is for a reason, and I am who I am for a different reason, and I think both can be true,” she said. “I’m just trying to play this position to the best of my abilities and in my own way.”

» READ MORE: Lynn Williams’ selflessness as a two-time Olympic alternate makes her a U.S. team role model

Horan insisted after Tuesday’s game that all the work — which Rodman said included a lot of film study to show what can get better — will pay off.

“No concern — I have full faith in our team,” Horan said. “We wanted to create better chances and better opportunities, more shots on goal, just more quality chances, and I think that happened from the first game to this game. … A few of them, maybe the decision-making was off, but, at the end of the day, we’re going to finish them off, and we’ll be fine.”

The U.S. captain knows she has a role to play in this, too. Battering-ram finishes have long been one of her specialties, especially on corner kicks and free kicks. But she also has been at the forefront of wanting the team to play a more intricate style, the kind she sees often with her French club, Lyon.

“That’s a big sticking point right now: We need to get in the box; we need to create those opportunities,” Horan said. “But also, we have different ways of scoring. I think you can see a little of the pass, give-and-go-type play inside our 18 [yard box]. I don’t know if we’ve seen that in the past.”

» READ MORE: The U.S. women’s soccer team is Lindsey Horan’s to lead now ahead of the Paris Olympics

Hayes also liked what she saw.

“We’re creating more and more high-quality chances, and we’re getting more numbers into the key areas, we’re getting more touches in the key areas,” she said. “The last part is the hardest part. And I’m really patient, because I’ve coached teams that have to break blocks down, and it’s the hardest thing to do in coaching.”

Those words pointed to the particular nature of the task Hayes faces. U.S. Soccer’s ultimate aim in hiring her may be the 2027 World Cup, but the Olympics start in a week, and the rabid fan base wants a medal.

“Yes, we need to be more clinical — I don’t need to state the obvious,” Hayes said. “But I think that when you’ve had maybe half a dozen training sessions in total since I’ve been the [full-time] coach, I think it’s pretty good returns so far.”

» READ MORE: USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher remains a quiet leader, even with all her big-game heroics

The time that Hayes will have with her team in France before the July 25 tournament opener will help. There have been real signs of improvement in her tenure, but they’re easily hidden in a scoreless tie.

“When I analyze the chances should we win the game? Of course we should win the game,” Hayes said. “But for me, I’m always about analyzing what you have to do to be able to ensure that happens, or at least [how] we can get into [scoring] positions again and again. I cannot finish the ball for players, but I can certainly coach [in a way] that can put players in positions.”

They’ve all got a week to get things right. If they don’t, it will be clear. But if they do, those past generations might note a quirk of history.

The last time the U.S. women played a scoreless tie in a major-tournament send-off game was 2015. It’s fine to state the obvious about how that summer ended: with a World Cup title.

» READ MORE: After two years of waiting, Sam Coffey will finally be on the USWNT’s big stage at the Olympics

Times listed are Philadelphia time. All of NBC’s video streaming of the Olympics is available free with pay-TV provider authentication at NBCOlympics.com, or via subscription on Peacock.

Thursday, July 25: Group stage vs. Zambia at Nice, France (3 p.m., USA Network, Universo, Peacock)

Sunday, July 28: Group stage vs. Germany at Marseille, France (3 p.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)

Wednesday, July 31: Group stage vs. Australia at Marseille (1 p.m., E!, Universo, Peacock)

Saturday, Aug. 3: Quarterfinal at Paris if group winner (9 a.m., E!, Telemundo 62, Peacock); Marseille if runner-up (1 p.m., Telemundo 62, Peacock); or Lyon (11 a.m., E!, Universo, Peacock) or Nantes (3 p.m., English TBD, Universo, Peacock) if a third-place qualifier

Tuesday, Aug. 6: Semifinal at Lyon if group winner or runner-up (E!, Universo, Peacock); or Marseille if a third-place qualifier (3 p.m., English TBD, Universo, Peacock)

Friday, Aug. 9: Bronze medal game at Lyon (9 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)

Saturday, Aug. 10: Gold medal game at Paris (11 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock)