Emma Hayes teaching the US a few lessons about humility ahead of Olympics
Emma Hayes arrives at the Olympics in charge of the most successful football nation in Games history urging America to respect the rest of the world.
Former Chelsea boss Hayes is two months into her dream job as head coach of the four-time champions and favourites for Paris gold.
The USA also won two of the last three World Cups but they bombed disastrously last summer, failing to get past the last 16 in their worst ever campaign, prompting the hiring of Hayes to lead the rebuild.
“I can’t over-emphasise this enough, we are only thinking about Zambia,” the Londoner said of Thursday’s opener in Nice. “It’s always a mistake when you think or talk in any other way.
“One of the biggest problems has been that too often we talk about what are we going to to do in Paris, or what happens when you get to the semis or the final.
“It’s disrespectful to the rest of the world to talk like that. The game has moved to the point that that isn’t the case. It isn’t a shoo-in to get somewhere, it has to be earned.
“There is no given right, when women’s football is the way it has developed across the world. There are top football nations in this tournament. On any given day any opponent can beat anyone.
“I don’t think shocks in the women’s game exist any more. I think we need to reframe our focus a little bit and have respect for the rest of the world.”
READ: Think Olympic football does not matter? Thierry Henry wants a word…
Hayes is like a kid in a sweetshop, managing a country she loves deeply having coached both college and professional teams Stateside prior to joining Chelsea and leading the Blues to seven Women’s Super League titles.
What she is not is getting ahead of herself. And she hopes neither players nor supporters will do so either.
“I’m a really calm character so I hope I role model well enough for them,” she said of her new team from the base in Marseille where they have spent the past week preparing.
“Stress is never worth it. I’ve developed enough of a process to know how to remain present and how to keep teaching the players the things they’re going to need in the moments that matter.”
She confronts head on questions about last year’s World Cup flop, insisting the players have parked it and are firmly focused on creating a new history together.
“Our motivation,” she added, gently but firmly, “isn’t about righting wrongs.”
This unflustered authority has already won over her players with star striker Sophia Smith praising the environment the 47-year old has created in her short time at the helm.
“Emma is honestly everything I’ve heard she is, in the best way possible,” Smith told Football365. “She creates such a welcoming environment and allows every player to be exactly who they are, on and off the field.
“She strikes the balance of holding a very high standard, every single day in practise, making sure we’re not falling short and that every day we’re getting something out of what we’re doing.
“But she is so supportive, so personable. She gets to know us as people, not just as players. For me that goes a long way. “
Smith’s testimony chimes with Hayes’ philosophy on coaching, expressed in an emotional speech on the January night in London the Football Writers’ Association paid tribute to her career.
“There are tough moments but I’ve always wanted to do it with a degree of humanity because I think it’s important,” she told her audience. “No-one wants to work for an arsehole. I say that because we have a choice.”
She went on to explain how her lifelong passion had been to “build the picture of possibilities” so girls everywhere could aspire to “the things I never got the opportunity to be”.
“I didn’t have any female role models bar my mum,” she added. “I aspired to be Glenn Hoddle growing up because I couldn’t be a Fran Kirby or a Carly Telford. I couldn’t even believe that that was there to be seen.”
So it was that her first “real inspirations and role models” in women’s football were none other than the US national team, which brings us back to where we are today.
Thus far she has ‘friendly’ wins over South Korea, twice, and Mexico before, most recently, the US played out a scoreless draw with Costa Rica. Now comes the real test.
She is steeled for the scrutiny which comes with the job, and has already revealed her toughness by omitting US legend Alex Morgan from the Olympic squad.
“I’ve got a job to do,” she told Time Magazine yesterday. “My job is everybody’s hobby so everybody’s entitled to an opinion.
“But at the end of the day I’m the person who is charged with the responsibility of leading this team. And if I’m going to do that to the best of my ability, then I have to know how to shut out the noise. That’s something I’m comfortable doing.”