Emma Hayes Benches Rose Lavelle in Olympic Gold Game

In a stunning development at the Paris Olympics, USWNT coach Emma Hayes left Rose Lavelle on the bench for the start of the gold medal game against Brazil. Despite the old saying of “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” as Lavelle was dumped for Korbin Albert, she has left the fans scratching their heads. Lavelle is a fancy player and she is fit, so there are no rumors of injury. It seems that Hayes made the shocking move to start Albert as a tactical shift.

Albert scored in the group stage against Australia. It is not just a desperate move to try and give the club a fresh offensive spark. This decision reflects a larger tactical shift of Hayes. Lavelle was benched earlier in the competition against Germany for Lynn Williams. However, it is nothing like that as Hayes is trying to find forwards who can result to a goal. It is about how bizarre the move is to take away almost half of Lavelle and her quality from the fray, and to do it in a moment where she needs it the most and in a game that would be her last of this Olympic conclusion.