Sports
USWNT’s shock loss to Portugal shows lack of problem-solving, but no cause for alarm (yet)
CHESTER, Pa. — U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes slapped the table repeatedly at Subaru Park on Thursday as she described how she felt watching her team lose to Portugal 2-1 moments earlier.
“I was frustrated this evening because I felt like a game of a Whac-A-Mole,” Hayes said, hitting different parts of the table to illustrate the point. “I felt like if I put something out then I was whacking that. That’s how the game felt for me as a coach, and I’ve been doing this for so long — I hate them games.”
Portugal scored both goals on corner kicks — “no coach likes conceding on f—ing set pieces ever,” Hayes eventually said with a smile as she walked away from the news conference, drawing a laugh from the room — and the U.S. struggled to connect with and without the ball against a well-organized Portuguese team.
“It felt really individual out there,” said midfielder Rose Lavelle, who scored 35 seconds into the match. “I think everyone was trying to fix it on their own.” Captain Lindsey Heaps added that “sometimes it felt a little bit like we were on islands.”
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The tepid performance evoked at least passing memories of the 2023 World Cup, where the USWNT held on for a draw with Portugal by mere inches — with the help of the goalpost in stoppage time — and avoided their first group-stage exit in World Cup history. Alarm bells were literally ringing around Eden Park that day in Auckland, New Zealand due to a malfunctioning sprinkler — a scene that portended the team’s worst World Cup finish a few days later at the hands of Sweden.
But Hayes wasn’t the coach then, and though she was palpably disappointed with Thursday’s “rushed” performance from her team, she isn’t alarmed.
“As Ben Northey, the [Australian] conductor would say, ‘Let it go,'” Hayes said motioning her hand back past her face.
It sounds like an easy out for Hayes, but Thursday’s loss comes 113 days after the U.S. last played — “it looked like a team in preseason to me,” Hayes said. More importantly, it was 609 days ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
The loss on Thursday is the team’s third of the calendar year, which has happened only four other times in the program’s 40-year history. Never has the U.S. team lost four matches in a calendar year.
Portugal’s diamond shape in the midfield allowed it to keep 60% possession in the first half and find the open spaces between the three-player midfield of the U.S. Portugal played around the Americans frequently, although Portugal was generally wasteful in front of goal during open play.
The problems for the U.S. compounded across every line. Hayes lamented mistimed defensive challenges and lost duels. And then there were the set pieces, of course. Diana Gomes outjumped three defenders on the six-yard line to score Portugal’s equalizer just before halftime, and Fátima Pinto added the second after the Americans failed to clear a corner kick..
“I think there was stuff that didn’t work out all over the field,” midfielder Sam Coffey said.
“There’s a million excuses you could make — and we’re not going to. To say that we haven’t been together or we’re young or whatever is a cop-out. The standard of this team is to own when you are not good enough and you’re not playing up to the standard of the crest. There is a standard of winning, and it exceeds all of those things.”
Thursday’s loss is only the third in program history for the USWNT against an opponent outside of the top 20 in FIFA’s rankings. It is a hard lesson for a young American team that Hayes warned not to underestimate Portugal.
The biggest concern wasn’t the result — it was the flat, disjointed performance, and the individual ways in which players tried to solve those problems in real time. The lack of problem-solving and creativity ultimately were the team’s undoing. That description feels like the 2023 World Cup meeting between the U.S. and Portugal.
“Don’t bring me back to that game,” Heaps said with a slight laugh Thursday.
But the good news for the USWNT — at least for now — is that the poor showing is an anomaly in the Hayes era. Hayes took over as coach a few months before the 2024 Olympics and led the team to a gold medal, then proceeded to overhaul the program and win while experimenting to unprecedented levels as she handed out 24 first caps in her first 24 games.
The Hayes era has been off to a flying start in the first 18 months, which is partly why a relatively cheerful Heaps said repeatedly Thursday after the match that her team can’t be too negative. Thursday wasn’t a World Cup, but rather the first game for this core group on the journey to qualifying next year.
Yes, it was ugly. It was disjointed. But it wasn’t entirely discouraging or alarming.
“It’s a game of football, no one died,” Hayes said. “We’ve got to be better, and I promise you we will be better — we better be.”
A rematch Sunday against Portugal in East Hartford, Connecticut, might at least partly explain that optimism. Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce said simply about what is on her mind for Sunday: “Revenge, for sure.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday Washington had no objections to Iranian players participating in the 2026 Fifa World Cup but he added the players will not be allowed to bring with them people with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Nothing from the US has told them they can’t come,” Rubio told reporters.
President Donald Trump also said his administration “would not want to affect the athletes” in comments he made at the White House.
The 2026 soccer World Cup is set to begin on June 11 across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Paolo Zampolli, a Trump envoy who has no official connection with the World Cup, had earlier suggested that Italy should replace Iran at the tournament.
“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in but not the athletes themselves,” Rubio said.
“They can’t bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers,” Rubio added. Washington has designated the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organisation.”
Currently there is no suggestion Iran will withdraw or be banned from the tournament that Italy missed out on.
After the start of the Iran war, Iran requested that Fifa move the team’s three group matches from the US to Mexico, which was rejected.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war began over two weeks ago.
VILLARREAL:
Villarreal moved closer to securing third place in La Liga with a 1-1 draw at Real Oviedo on Thursday, while another defeat left Sevilla teetering on the brink of the relegation zone.
Nicolas Pepe’s first-half penalty looked to have been enough to send Villarreal seven points clear of Atletico Madrid, but Ilyas Chaira’s strike midway through the second period ensured the spoils were shared.
Despite the result, Villarreal moved to 62 points and boast a five-point cushion over fourth-placed Atletico, who are on a four-match losing streak in the league.
Real Oviedo, who were looking to make it three wins from three, remain bottom of La Liga, six points away from safety.
Former Arsenal winger Pepe won and converted a penalty on 13 minutes to put the visitors in front.
But Oviedo levelled in the 69th minute as Ilyas’ heavily-deflected effort left goalkeeper Arnau Tenas with no chance.
Ayoze Perez came within inches of winning it for Villarreal inside the final 10 minutes but his effort came off the bar and bounced to safety from the goal-line.
Earlier, seven-time Europa League and UEFA Cup winners Sevilla sank further into the relegation battle as they went down 2-0 at Levante.
Ivan Romero netted in the 38th minute to put the 19th-placed hosts in front, before adding a second late on to secure all three points for Levante.
Sevilla languish in 17th place, one point above Alaves in the final relegation spot.
Victory for Levante gave them hope of escaping the drop zone as they climbed to 32 points — two behind the Andalusians and safety.
Rayo Vallecano put some distance between themselves and the relegation dogfight courtesy of a 1-0 win at home to Espanyol.
Sergio Camello’s 87th-minute winner took Rayo to 38 points and 11th place, one spot ahead of the Catalans on goal difference.
On Friday, Real Madrid will look to close the gap, provisionally, to Liga leaders Barcelona when they visit Real Betis.
Alvaro Arbeloa’s charges sit nine points behind their arch-rivals and know a victory early in the weekend’s round of matches will amp up the pressure on Barcelona 24 hours after the news that star Blaugrana attacker Lamine Yamal will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
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Cameras showed former New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch in the team’s draft room Thursday night during the first round.
At one point, Tisch was seen standing near Giants head coach John Harbaugh. Despite no longer holding a majority stake in the NFL franchise, Tisch remains the Giants’ chairman of the board.
ESPN obtained an NFL memo last month detailing plans by Steve Tisch and his siblings to transfer their stake in the Giants to trusts for their children.
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New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch warms up before the NFL game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 28, 2018. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
“Prior transfers to these Trusts were completed pursuant to 2023 and 2024 Finance Committee approvals,” the memo stated. “The Sellers now propose to transfer their entire remaining interests, totaling 23.1% of the Club, to the Trusts. … Following the transactions, the Sellers will no longer own any interest in the Club.”
It was not clear if the transfer requests were in any way related to Tisch’s name appearing in the Epstein files released by the U.S. Justice Department in January. Tisch’s name came up more than 400 times in the files. Tisch at the time said he knew Epstein but denied visiting Epstein’s island.
As for draft night, the Giants made what some viewed as an unconventional pick at No. 10, selecting offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa.
Francis Mauigoa of Miami celebrates after being selected as the tenth overall pick by the New York Giants during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., on April 23, 2026. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Before that, the Giants added another piece to their pass rush, selecting hybrid edge/off-ball linebacker Arvell Reese at No. 5.
Reese earned All-American honors at Ohio State and finished his first season as a full-time starter with 6.5 sacks.
Arvell Reese of Ohio State celebrates after being selected as the fifth overall pick by the New York Giants during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., on April 23, 2026. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Reese is set to join a pass rush that includes Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and, likely, Kayvon Thibodeaux.
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