Nary a kick has been kicked and this is already absolutely not how the USWNT’s Gold Cup was supposed to go. There was so much excitement about a new forward line building relationships early in an Olympic year, but with news of Mia Fishel’s ACL tear those ideas and that excitement were tossed in a volcano. I hate it here.

Unfortunately this leaves the USWNT with a bit of a problem. To fix it they’ve already turned to Alex Morgan, and it’s understandable why. Even if they wanted to be adventurous, there weren’t too many options. The reality of which is yet another problem of player development now staring the federation in the face.

Since being left off the World Cup roster by Vlatko Andonovski, Ashley Hatch might’ve been a cruel person to turn to given the professional heartbreak she dealt with publicly just a few months ago. Messiah Bright had a solid rookie season (and was my choice for rookie of the year) but hasn’t spent time in the senior setup, and is in the process of adjusting to her new club, Angel City.

But this remains an important tournament for experimentation and development. So what can the USWNT attack do to take steps forward between now and the Olympics? Here are some:

1) Don’t start Alex Morgan

While Fishel was the only true center forward, and now that remains true with her out and Morgan in, experimentation is still possible. Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams have all spent time in the NWSL playing as a central striker.

Sophia Smith won the 2023 Golden Boot despite missing over a month of the season with a knee injury. In fact, Smith only had three regular season games of over 45 minutes played in which she didn’t record a goal or assist. She’s growing more comfortable on the national team, and has the confidence and skill to be the focal point of the attack.

Trinity Rodman has been a marvel since entering the league, winning rookie of the year and the Spirit its first NWSL championship in her first season. Coaching turnover hasn’t granted her the stability to grow in a single role, but most recently she spent most of 2023 in a front two with Ashley Hatch.

As for Lynn Williams, when the North Carolina Courage were winning back-to-back championships, they did so with a front two of Lynn Williams and Jessica McDonald. In Gotham’s title-winning 2023, Williams played pretty much everywhere along the forward line.

Fishel’s game seemed a natural complement to the speed and intelligence of the players who’d likely flank her, but a forward line of Williams-Smith-Rodman could still work – and be fun as hell. Each are familiar with playing wide or centrally to work off another forward. Adventurous fullbacks could still provide width to allow either or both wide forwards the ability to drift into central pockets.

As fun as it sounds in theory, it’d still take time to learn one another’s timing and tendencies. Christine Sinclair, Jessica McDonald and Ashley Hatch aren’t similar enough to one another, nor Smith, Rodman or Williams. One could argue that a tournament like this could be the time and place to work on such a thing, the potential for fluidity and combination play – wide or central – is probably the most intriguing of the options and I would like to see it.

2) Start Alex Morgan, but…

Apart from not scoring at the 2023 World Cup and only notching two national team goals last year, one of the biggest problems Morgan had was in how she was deployed. Before Catarina Macario tore her ACL, then head coach Vlatko Andonovski used her as a 9 with a lot of freedom to roam the final third. When Macario went down, Morgan was asked and/or expected to do something similar.

Over the past few years Morgan has grown fond of the offside flag, and being pushed too far wide to threaten goal. It happens, she’s 33 and has played a lot of football. While that all-important half step may be somewhere in the rear view, she’s still savvy enough to win headers and connect with crosses into the box.

Starting Morgan doesn’t have to mean a reversion to the previous era’s tactics which clearly did not work against solid teams. Instead, playing her as a true between-the-CBs central striker could help keep them occupied while Rodman or Smith invert to claim the space that’s left.

This approach would be reliant on Morgan shedding her poor finishing from last season so center backs had to honor her as a consistent goal threat. It could also mean an unfortunate flirting with the cross-happy approach the team fell into under Andonovski, so Kilgore will have to be cautious to make sure old habits don’t continue.

However, the upside is that this is a role Morgan is comfortable with. While she didn’t have a stellar finishing season for San Diego Wave either, of her non-penalty goals (5) only two occurred away from the penalty spot (or even closer to goal). Giving forwards freedom to get closer to the box, and pinpoint delivery from fullbacks, could help get Morgan back on track.

3) Jaedyn Shaw false 9 era

Without Fishel, Morgan, Rodman, Williams or Smith, missing a presence in the opponent’s box might not seem ideal, but it can work. As mentioned, all available players (bar Morgan) are versatile enough to be dangerous in wide areas and still have the mobility to fill space in attacking sequences.

Using Shaw as a false 9 would provide the other forwards a lot of space and freedom to make runs. Shaw is excellent at threading the ball behind lines from deeper areas, and also likes to drift into dangerous spaces once the ball is held up in attack.

The aforementioned downside is not having a presence to keep the center backs pinned, which would prevent them from stepping out to narrow space and restrict attacks. If a team’s defensive positioning is solid, it would take the exact right run and the exact right ball at the exact right time to break through, all of which lowers the probability of it being relied upon as the primary plan.

Still, I think it would be intriguing against some opponents to deploy Shaw in this way. She has a skillset that isn’t exactly in abundance in the USWNT player pool, so getting her in areas in which she can shine would only add to the ways in which the USWNT could put opponents under pressure.

4) Rodman/Williams-Smith 442

Of all the options I probably like this one the least. I’ve already discussed Smith, Rodman and Williams being familiar with a strike partnership, and this approach would be the most straightforward copy/paste.

My concern about this option stems from the midfield adjustment necessary to make it work. Kilgore’s midfield unit isn’t super deep (6) and might not be versatile enough to pull this off. An Emily Sonnett-Sam Coffey central midfield pairing would be sturdy and interesting, but the concern comes in the wider areas. One would surely be Rose Lavelle, but as for the other wide midfielder: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Horan is of course one possibility, but a lot of on-ball progression would be required and that hasn’t been a strong suit of hers on the national team. Korbin Albert could potentially handle the responsibilities, but it’s not a natural fit for anything she did at Notre Dame nor what she’s been up to at PSG. Given that, Moultrie might be the best option, which would be intriguing. However, it feels like something to shift into rather than a preferred setup to start a game.

My heart breaks for Mia Fishel. She should have been in the national team picture during the last cycle, and now that she’s finally in and given an opportunity to lead the line, a devastating injury occurs a day before the opening match. It’s unfair and I will be suplexing every soccer god I can track down.

The cruelty of sports are that they deliver cruelty and then also have the audacity to keep going. So despite how frustrating and unfair this all feels, there’s still an opportunity to take steps toward refreshing the USWNT’s misfiring attack.

In partnership with