Sports
Emma Hayes aims to replicate her Chelsea success with U.S. women's soccer
The women’s national soccer team hasn’t won an Olympic championship in 12 years, its longest drought ever. Yet for Emma Hayes, the woman tasked to get the U.S. back to the top of the medal podium, memories of the 2012 tournament have little to do with gold medals.
The Games were played in England that year and Hayes’ father, Sid, became enamored with the Americans. So much so that when Hayes took the head coaching job with the Chelsea women’s team that same summer, he urged her to remake the English game in the U.S. model.
She did, hoisting 16 trophies. So with little left to win in England, Hayes became a candidate for the U.S. coaching job when it came open last year — and that led to another conversation with her father just before he died in September.
This time he urged her to remake the American team in the Chelsea model.
“I have a 23-minute voice note, my last conversation with my father, and it was all about 2012,” Hayes said Thursday, midway through her first official day as coach of the national team. “At the end of it he goes, ‘You’re going to take it, won’t you?’
“I almost talked to him like I had the job, even though I didn’t, because I wanted him to go with that thought. By the time October rolled around and I interviewed for the job, I just thought I could hear him in my head the whole time. ‘You’ve got to do it.’ ”
She did, although she had to wait for her contract at Chelsea to run out, which it did last weekend with Hayes winning her fifth straight Women’s Super League title. Now she has less than 10 weeks to prepare the U.S. for another Summer Games, this one in France, where it will face the best field in Olympic history.
Her work will begin in earnest next week when Hayes gathers her first U.S. team in suburban Denver for training camp and the first of two friendlies with South Korea. After that, the she’ll have to choose her 18-player team for Paris.
And after her success in England, she says the challenges of her new job have re-energized her.
“Working at Chelsea took my whole life for the past 12 years and I really wanted a change,” said Hayes, 47, who will reportedly earn close to $2 million a year with the USWNT, making her the best-paid women’s soccer coach in history. “Just driving into the same workplace six days a week, the game every three days, the intensity of all of those things. I couldn’t do that again. Not at this moment in time.
Emma Hayes directs Chelsea players during the UEFA Women’s Champions League final against FC Barcelona in May 2021.
(Martin Meissner / Associated Press)
“I want to build trust. I want to come from a place where trust is the foundation. I want to build a family in their environment that everybody looks after each other within that. And I recognize the program’s history.
— Emma Hayes, new U.S. women’s national team coach
“There’s a different ebb and flow to international football. You don’t get many opportunities to go to an Olympics in your life.”
Hayes, who was born in London, arrived in New York to start her new job Wednesday and immediately took a walk around Central Park. She’s no stranger to the city or the park, having taken her first coaching job with the Long Island Lady Riders of the USL-W League. The team went 11-3-0 and Hayes, just 25, was named the league’s coach of the year.
She would quickly move on to Iona University and the Chicago Red Stars, which then played in the WPL, before returning to England with Chelsea in 2012. But, she said, she always planned on coming back to the U.S.
“My journey has been bottom up. So I have such an appreciation, not just of the landscape, but of my journey,” she said. “We all have dreams. But it’s not often your dreams become a reality. And I always grew up with that notion, this whole American dream concept, that you can come to the country — and as a woman coming from England, trust me, I never felt more supported than I did when I worked in the U.S. — and work my way up through the system to be now be the head coach of your national team.
“I will give absolutely everything I’ve got to make sure I uphold the traditions of of this team.”
Although next week’s training camp will be her first in charge, she said the transition from Chelsea to the national team began months ago with late nights watching NWSL games from England and in regular conversations with Twila Kilgore, the U.S. team’s interim coach.
“I feel like I’ve been able quietly get to know the job without being in the job. And I think that’s really helped,” she said. “I’ve been preparing. All the camp preparation is done, all the sessions are planned, the June schedule is planned out in terms of our meetings. So everybody is clear on what’s going on.”
Hayes said she also plans on meeting privately with every player, giving them a chance to get to know their new coach just as the new coach will get to know each player.
“I want to build trust,” she said. “I want to come from a place where trust is the foundation. I want to build a family in their environment that everybody looks after each other within that. And I recognize the program’s history.
“I have admired so many things that the players have done over the years to advocate, not just for themselves, but for the things and causes that matter most. I don’t want to change those things, but I also want to make sure everybody understands that everything we do, we have to ask ourselves ‘is this helping the team win?’ That’s what my focus will be.”
A focus on getting the team back to the kind of play that made her father a fan, which won’t be easy, Hayes concedes. Not only has the U.S. gone 12 years without an Olympic title, but it bowed out of last summer’s World Cup in the round of 16, its earliest exit ever in a major world championship
“What we saw last summer is how that gap has been closed,” Hayes said. “Sometimes you need something like that as a reminder that what got you here won’t get you there. It’s an opportunity now to to evolve. In world football, especially in Europe, there’s a lot of investment. Teams are at a certain level now that they weren’t four years ago.
“I’m never going to tell anyone to not dream about winning. So go for it,” she added. “But we have to go step by step. If we can perform at our best level, then we have a chance of doing things. But we’ve got work to do.”
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Croatia thought their FIFA World Cup hopes were still alive when they scored the game-tying goal just before the end of stoppage time in the second half.
But a VAR review said Mario Pasalic was offside, and it was Portugal moving on instead.
Gonçalo Ramos’ goal just minutes earlier — a beautiful header into the back of the net in the 94th minute — was the decider in this 2-1 victory for Portugal. And it was only the second time in Portuguese World Cup history the nation needed to come from behind to win, underscoring its resilience on the sport’s biggest stage.
Luka Modric of Croatia and teammates react after the 1-2 loss during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
It was a controversial ending, though, and one where Croatia tried to argue the ball never hit the head of Igor Matanovic, which made Pasalic offside during VAR review.
It’s also worth noting that a new chip within the ball shows when it is touched, giving more concrete evidence to the referee’s final decision in such a crucial time of the match. This was the 10th goal overruled by VAR thus far in the World Cup.
GABRIEL MARTINELLI’S 96TH-MINUTE GOAL RESCUES BRAZIL FROM JAPAN UPSET IN WORLD CUP ROUND OF 32
So, with the goal annulled, Croatia’s time at the tournament has ended. As a result, Croatian legend Luka Modrić is finishing his fifth World Cup, which will likely be the 40-year-old midfielder’s final one.
But another older legend on the pitch will move on, as Cristiano Ronaldo made some World Cup history during this match.
When No. 7 stepped foot on the pitch and the ball was kicked, he became the oldest player to participate in a knockout stage match at the World Cup at 41 years and 147 days old. He also became the oldest player to score in a knockout stage match when he saw a penalty situation while Portugal was down 1-0 in the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
Ivan Perisic got the first goal of this game and put Portugal’s back against the wall. But after a foul was committed inside Croatia’s box in the 67th minute, it was time for Ronaldo to get his first career knockout goal, and he didn’t disappoint.
Ronaldo was ecstatic, sprinting toward the corner flag and performing his signature “SIU!” celebration, which the crowd bellowed with the score at 1-1. Ronaldo had also seemed to get that first knockout goal just minutes earlier but he was called offside.
Modrić and Ronaldo, two former teammates on Real Madrid, also made history together, as they were the first two players 40 years or older to play in the same match together.
Luka Modric of Croatia congratulates Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal after the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
It was also an emotional moment after the match, as Ronaldo wore the jersey of late Portugal teammate Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident a year ago. A team photo was taken on the pitch, with Ronaldo holding up Jota’s jersey alongside his squad.
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Now that the job is done in the Round of 32 for Portugal, they face a big challenge against a key rival in the Round of 16.
Spain, who dominated Austria with a 3-0 finish earlier on Thursday, awaits Portugal at Dallas Stadium on July 6 at 3 p.m. ET.
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Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, but only after the National League West leaders rose from a catatonic first inning.
The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead for good in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.
“Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around, “or the way it started.”
By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.
Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs among seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.
“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”
One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.
“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.
As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.
The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field leading off, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.
Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he needed to work on his command, but he felt like his fastball was good.
Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”
Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.
“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.
When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.
The lineup already was revving, as Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Muncy drove in runs off starter Randy Vasquez in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.
“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said of Pages. “That was a huge out.”
The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have lost six straight and given up 66 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.
But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
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In previous years, the Round of 16 was the first knockout stage match, but with an expanded field of 48 teams— it is now the second.
Let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for which countries are favored to make the Round of 16 and emerge from it.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
To Reach Round of 16
Argentina: -2000 (bet $10 to win $10.50 total)
Colombia: -550 (bet $10 to win $11.82 total)
Portugal: -340 (bet $10 to win $12.94 total)
Switzerland: -235 (bet $10 to win $14.26 total)
Egypt: -148 (bet $10 to win $16.76 total)
Australia: +122 (bet $10 to win $22.20 total)
Algeria: +186 (bet $10 to win $28.60 total)
Croatia: +260 (bet $10 to win $36 total)
Ghana: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Cape Verde: +1160 (bet $10 to win $126 total)
Now let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for the matchups already in place.
SATURDAY, JULY 4
Canada vs. Morocco
To Advance: MAR -300, CAN +225
Moneyline: MAR -130, Draw +240, CAN +420
Paraguay vs. France
To Advance: FRA -1800, PRY +1140
Moneyline: FRA -600, Draw +600, PRY +1800
SUNDAY, JULY 5
Brazil vs. Norway
To Advance: BRA -245, NOR +196
Moneyline: BRA -120, Draw +260, NOR +340
Mexico vs. England
To Advance: ENG -134, MEX +110
Moneyline: ENG +145, Draw +210, MEX +200
MONDAY, JULY 6
USA vs. Belgium
To Advance: USA -110, BEL -110
Moneyline: USA +165, Draw +230, BEL +170
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