USWNT Stars Face Early WSL Challenges: Thompson, Coffey, and Tullis-Joyce

Chelsea spent most of opening weekend with the ball, the territory, and the tempo. They walked away with a lesson. Again.

Aston Villa’s late equalizer turned control into a 1-1 draw, leaving Kingsmeadow with that familiar hollow feeling: dominance means little if you don’t finish. Alyssa Thompson learned that the hard way. Handed the start, she burst into promising spaces, stretched Villa’s back line, and kept finding pockets where a decisive touch would have killed the game. The touch never quite came.

Chelsea will need that to change, and soon.

Thompson’s bigger stage

Year two in London looks very different for Thompson. Millie Bright, Guro Reiten and Sam Kerr are gone. With them goes a chunk of experience, goals, and personality. What’s left is opportunity — and pressure.

Thompson built a strong base in her debut season, finishing as Chelsea’s top league scorer with seven goals. She showed she can live at this level. Now the ask is heavier: lead the line more often, carry more of the scoring load, and turn half-chances into match-winners for a team in transition.

Her international trajectory is already rising. On the right wing for the USWNT, she has scored four times, carving out a clearer path toward the upcoming qualifiers and strengthening her case for a permanent place in Emma Hayes’ plans. She has the pace, the movement, the instincts.

What Chelsea need now is the end product. Those dangerous runs and clever positions have to start ending with the net rippling, not with heads in hands.

Coffey steps back into the fight

While Thompson wrestled with missed chances, Sam Coffey’s weekend was about something more basic: just getting back out there.

The midfielder’s last WSL campaign was cut short by a knee injury, a setback that also kept her out of the USWNT’s June friendlies. On opening weekend, she finally returned, coming off the bench in Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Birmingham City.

Coffey replaced Laura Blindkilde Brown in the 73rd minute, a modest cameo on the stat sheet but a significant step for a player whose English adventure has been stop-start. She arrived from the Portland Thorns midway through last season and gradually grew into her role as City pushed for the WSL title. Her reading of the game, her positioning, her willingness to do the unglamorous work in midfield all began to shine through.

Now she’s healthy. Now she has a full season in front of her.

Her return matters in Manchester, but it also matters in the US. Hayes went into the Brazil friendlies without a trusted specialist at holding midfield. Coffey’s absence left a gap at the base of the American midfield, the kind of gap that becomes glaring against top opposition.

Getting minutes again is the first box ticked. Finding rhythm, sharpness, and that old authority in front of the back line could put her right back in the center of Hayes’ long-term blueprint.

Fox, steady as ever

Some players spike and dip. Emily Fox just plays.

Whether she’s in an Arsenal shirt or a USWNT kit, Fox rarely turns in a poor performance. Sunday was another entry in that file. Starting in her usual outside back role, she helped Arsenal grind out a 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion and pocket all three points.

Arsenal set up with a high line, compressing the pitch, daring Brighton to play through pressure. It suited Fox. She stepped up to win the ball early, then sprang forward when the Gunners broke in transition, that familiar balance between defensive discipline and attacking support on full display.

Since arriving in 2024, she has become one of Jonas Eidevall’s most reliable outlets at both ends of the pitch. No wild swings, no drama, just clean defending, smart positioning, and intelligent involvement going forward.

It wasn’t a highlight-reel opener. That’s the point. Fox doesn’t need fireworks to change a game; her value lies in the quiet certainty that her flank is under control.

Tullis-Joyce’s rough start, big stakes

For Phallon Tullis-Joyce, the new WSL season turned complicated almost immediately.

The Manchester United goalkeeper made a couple of early stops, looked settled, and then, in the eighth minute, got caught out. A corner swung in, Alanna Kennedy rose, and with Tullis-Joyce out of position, London City Lionesses had their lead.

United never really tidied up the mess at the back. With the game hanging in the balance in the 82nd minute, another lapse proved fatal. Daniëlle van de Donk found herself unmarked in the box and produced a cheeky finish behind her back for 2-1. Defensive confusion, punished. United beaten.

For Tullis-Joyce, the defeat is more than just a bad day at the office. This season carries weight beyond Carrington and Old Trafford. She is in the mix for the USWNT’s No. 1 shirt, a battle that will be decided as much by the details as by the big saves.

Shot-stopping has never been the question. Her footwork and distribution are. Hayes wants a goalkeeper who can start attacks, handle the press, and play under pressure with the ball at her feet. That’s where Tullis-Joyce must sharpen her game.

A strong, assured season with United — not just on the line, but in possession — could tilt the race in her favor. If she can match her reflexes with composure and precision on the ball, she won’t just be competing for the starting job. She’ll be setting the standard.