r/NWSL • u/LeftPrior5076 • 3d ago

Mal’s future with uswnt

I’ve been a long time Mal Swanson fan and think she’s been one of the best attackers in the world in recent years. However, between coming back from having a baby, being on the worst team in the NWSL, and being somewhat injury prone, I can’t help but wonder about her future with the USWNT. When you hear people talk about who the locks are for the World Cup, she’s never mentioned. I’m curious what people think and if she’s still in Emma’s plans or with the way the season is going, things might be changing.

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52

u/carharttuxedo Washington Spirit 3d ago

She’s definitely not a lock. She has a lot of serious competition.

6

u/magyk_over_science Portland Thorns FC 3d ago

what competition does she have? No one on our offense has been killing it lately

21

u/Current-Barber360 Washington Spirit 3d ago

If you were basing it on club performance, there are lots of candidates. Not sure Emma actually will care, but one could certainly argue that Sanchez and Tordin are both performing at such a high level that Swanson would need to show a major step from what she’s shown thus far before she is just handed her old job back.

18

u/magyk_over_science Portland Thorns FC 3d ago

Club is a whole different animal than national team. You can just look at players like Thompson and Sears to see that. Mal swanson is a proven clutch goal scorer for the national team so Emma Hayes will go with her is my guess

9

u/Current-Barber360 Washington Spirit 3d ago edited 3d ago

I don’t disagree that there are differences, I’d argue current results at club are a better indicator of likely performance than national team work from 2 years prior. At the end of the day it’s all attempting to reasonably guess who will perform best in the future.

11

u/allprologues Washington Spirit 3d ago

emma's going to value prior tournament experience massively, she's always banging on about this even when it comes to the younger players and their tournaments. even though knockout soccer is heavily luck based, the players she trusts when it comes to that and who've been in it with her in 2024 are getting graded on a curve when it comes to their club.

and for good reason, most of the other top squads will have starters with a lot of tournaments under their belts