The United States Women’s National Soccer Team will play in Cincinnati next week. In a friendly where the team will strive for a reset. After a shorter than expected World Cup campaign.

The USWNT will face South Africa at TQL Stadium this coming Thursday. It will be the USWNT’s first match since the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The team is striving to put one of their worst World Cup performances behind them. After being knocked out in the round of 16. Through a penalty shootout loss to eventual runners up Sweden.

The USWNT is in the middle of a generational shift. With a rising generation of players emerging. Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman made their world cup debuts this year. Both emerged as the stars of the rising generation during the tournament. Smith is a nominee for the prestigious Ballon D’Or award.

Smith won’t play on Thursday due to an MCL sprain. She suffered the injury during a post-World Cup NWSL match last month. Smith and Rodman’s rise is happening as veterans Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz are retiring. Rapinoe is set to play in her last USWNT match on September 24th. Ertz announced her retirement shortly after the U.S. concluded their World Cup run.

One also wonders how much longer Alex Morgan will play before she retires. While Morgan has given no indication that she plans to retire any time soon. She just concluded the fourth World Cup of her career. If Morgan competes in a fifth, she would be just the third American woman to do so. Morgan and Cincinnati native Rose Lavelle are set to be the veteran leaders going forward. Lavelle is emerging from her second World Cup. She and fellow Cincinnati native Aubrey Kingsbury are on the roster for Thursday’s match.

The USWNT isn’t just passing the baton between generations of players. They’re also looking for a new head coach. After head coach Vlatko Andonovski resigned last month. Twila Kilgore is serving as the interim head coach. Whoever gets the job will have the task of getting the team back on track.

The next head coach will need to tactically address what went wrong this summer. Most notably, the USWNT didn’t showcase the same aggressiveness on offense. That fans had been accustomed to seeing from the team. The USWNT struggled to score as their world cup run progressed. After scoring three goals in their group stage opener. The USWNT scored one goal in their second game and none in the third. Their only goals in the round of 16 were in the penalty shootout.

The USWNT finds themselves in a spot similar to the U.S. Men’s Basketball team nearly 20 years ago. USA Men’s Basketball went into the 2004 Athens Olympics with a young team. Featuring a barely out of high school LeBron James and others making their Olympic debuts. Players on the 90’s Dream Teams were mostly retired by then. USA Men’s Basketball concluded the 2004 Olympics with a bronze medal.

For most countries, a bronze medal in basketball would be considered a massive achievement. In USA Men’s Basketball’s case, getting bronze was seen as a setback. After the U.S. became accustomed to dominating their opponents in Olympic basketball. Four years after getting bronze in Athens came the Redeem Team. Which returned the U.S. to their gold medal winning ways.

The Redeem Team featured many of the same players from 2004. Matured by more professional and international experience. While hungry to bring home the gold after being humbled in 2004. The USWNT have a roster capable of being their own redeem team. Starting with the Summer Olympics next year in Paris. While building up to the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Which is poised to be the most competitive edition of that event so far.