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Thank you. Welcome to the Big Thing on Total Soccer Show, the weekly episode where we dive into a particular subject in detail.

And this week, we're taking a look at Emma Hayes, OBE.

After the Londoner's playing career was cut short by injury, Hayes moved into coaching and academy direction, starting out in New York before roles

at Arsenal and the Chicago Red Stars. And in 2012, Hayes began the role for which she is best

known at Chelsea, where she won six WSL titles, completely transformed the women's program and

became synonymous with the rise of the women's game in England.

And now a new challenge awaits, and it's a challenging challenge, arguably the biggest job in the sport at the helm of the USWNT.

Today we're looking at how Hayes landed the role, what kind of quality she's going to bring, what her hire means for US soccer, and how she might build a

path to success or back to success for the program. My name's Ryan Bailey joining me to have that

discussion. Taylor Rockwell, hello. Hello. Graham Rutherland. Hello. Hello. And the man who broke

the news to the entire world, Joey Scoops Joe Lowry. Hello. I'm working on the stash. Guys, it's coming in very, very, I actually just shaved the other day. So I'm going the opposite way, which is probably the right move for me to make in my own house and home. So there's that side of things. Who doesn't love the most challenging challenge of their career? And I do sort of think Emma Hayes is headed in that direction for the United States. The benefit for her and for anybody who was ever going to take this role. And Graham, I think you raised this point during the World Cup is that the U.S. is sort of at a low point in recent history. And the bar to exceed where they have been is low. The bar to get where they truly want to be is much, much higher than that. But the early returns for Emma Hayes or for anybody who would have been hired instead, I think are going to be positive just because the bar that was set by the predecessor was towards the basement rather than the ceiling. There you go. But challenging challenges are challenging, Joe, to just reemphasize that. I've heard that. Yes. We should. I love the way you said I shaved the other day as if you were implying the event was

kind of annual. I like that. It's you that do the, it's you that does the annual like shave of the beard and you show up one day and we're all wondering, who is this man and what do they do with Brian Bailey. That's you. That's me. That's me. Hi, it's me. I'm the problem. It's me.

Let's go and talk about Emma Hayes, shall we, Joseph. Just to lay the groundwork here, has the job been officially announced? Where does Hayes currently stand with US soccer? Yeah, so the job has not been officially announced. I think we should be expecting that announcement basically any day now. It seems like given where we are in the week and where people are listening to this, although there's a slight risk given that we're recording a bit ahead of time. But I would be surprised if it had been announced quite yet as listeners are listening. But I think the general expectation is towards the beginning of next week. I broke this news. You said it for back-heeled. Hayes is going to be the next U.S.

Women's National Team Coach. Me officials coming out here, giving interviews to the athletic and sort of saying, well, we don't know what's going to happen or not. She will be the next coach of the United States Women's National Team. A little bit of background on Emma Hayes because it is kind of a strange situation. 47 years old, six WSL titles,

very, very successful with Chelsea, Ryan.

You got to a lot of that in the intro. because it is kind of a strange situation. 47 years old, six WSL titles, like very, very successful

with Chelsea, Ryan, you got to a lot of that in the intro, had been there for forever. And is clearly

...