United States women‘s national team head coach Emma Hayes said that the “chaos” that Brazil causes will provide a formidable test for her team in their friendly matches over the next week.
Brazil will host the USWNT in 2027 Women’s World Cup venues for the matches, allowing the Americans to get a rare taste of being the away side.
The games come on the heels of the USWNT’s three meetings with Japan in April, who Hayes said is an equally good team but entirely different in style.
“My job is to expose our players to those differences to prepare them, but obviously with the way that we want to impose ourselves in mind,” Hayes told reporters on Friday.
“That means exposing the players to a lot of chaos, because that is what the game will look like.”
Brazil and the USWNT will meet in São Paulo on Saturday and in Fortaleza on Tuesday.
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The USWNT last played in Brazil at the 2016 Olympics.
Hayes has praised Brazil head coach Arthur Elias and the country’s “conveyor belt of talent” ahead of their meetings.
“Brazil are one of if not, I think, the favorites being the host nation,” Hayes said. “When you experience a crowd here with an identity that’s as clear as them, I think most teams in the world will tell you they are the toughest team to play. It’s almost a different game. Full credit to [Elias] for that.”
Hayes has consistently said that Brazil’s player-to-player defending and physicality disrupts opponents.
On Friday, she rattled off stats to further support the challenge: 117% more throw-ins than the average game; zero eight-plus pass sequences.
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“As Emma said, it can be chaotic at times and you’re having to solve pressure offensively and solve a lot of problems defensively very quickly,” USWNT defender Tierna Davidson said.
“I think that the game that they play is difficult and very challenging, and I think that’s part of the reason that we’re very excited for these two matchups.
“But it’s about being able to identify the open player offensively to be able to get them the ball, and defensively to make sure that we’re covering the spaces that we need to.”
This trip is about exposing a roster of relative newcomers to the opponent and the conditions as the away team. It is the sixth straight World Cup cycle in which the USWNT is playing test matches in the host country.
The matches mark the return of forward Mallory Swanson from maternity leave, meaning the self-proclaimed “Triple Espresso” of Swanson, Sophia Wilson and Trinity Rodman is back together for the first time since the 2024 Olympics.
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The trio scored 10 of the USWNT’s 12 goals in that tournament. Swanson scored the gold medal-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Brazil.
Hayes says the trio needs to rebuild connections and chemistry during this international window, which is the last until October.
Concacaf World Cup qualifying begins in November.
“I don’t know too many teams in the world that can be without their top three forwards for that length of time, which is why I am so proud of our whole group,” Hayes said.
“Because we’ve been developing in their absence, and now they’re back. I think it’s been clear that we have many more strings to our bow than two years ago.”
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Brazil defeated the United States 2-1 in their most recent meeting in April 2025.
The Americans won 2-0 in a match a few days before that. Both games were played in California.
The U.S. has won 34 of the 43 meetings and lost only four times.
Three of those victories have come in Olympic gold-medal matches.
