The head, the heart, the pain caves: the USWNT vs fatigue

Emma Hayes told us she wants her team to "suffer". Some thoughts on what that means

— Lyon

The day before the USWNT played Germany for the second time in the 2024 Olympics– this time a physical, 120-minute semi-final in Lyon– Emma Hayes talked to the team about pain. 

Hayes: “I showed them a video before the game of Courtney Dauwalter doing three ultra marathons back to back. And she talks about her pain cave, and how big her pain cave is. And that, other than just putting one foot in front of the other, you have to think that pain cave gets bigger and bigger the further you go.”

The team played Japan Saturday in Paris, traveled to Lyon on Sunday, and were shown the film on Monday before a semi-final on Tuesday night.

Hayes: “Yesterday, amazing video. And I told them, just so you know, there's many moments that she runs part of her races temporarily blind. So, [if] she can do that, more than 100 miles in 26 hours. We can, we can dig deep in here.”