The turnover has already begun. Just a few months out from the U.S. women's national team's Olympic gold medal, the next cycle is taking shape. It'll be a gradual process, which Emma Hayes will love after the sprint that was this summer's run to the Paris Games, but even in these early days, the process has begun.
It started on Thursday night in Austin on a night defined by world-class goals from two potentially world-class players. Alyssa Thompson and Jaedyn Shaw aren't there yet, but they might be sooner than most people imagined.
Thompson and Shaw were each on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win over Iceland, and they were joined by the ancient-by-comparison 24-year-old Sophia Smith. Seriously. The USWNT's present and future led the charge, and for all the glory of Paris, the Olympic gold already seems left in the past.
There will be more opportunities for players such as Shaw and Thompson to continue their evolution, with one coming as soon as Sunday against the same opponent, as the U.S. plays another friendly with Iceland in Nashville. And even as Hayes remained unbeaten in 11 matches on the job, this, too, remains a process. But the USWNT's teenage starlets look as if they're already ready to kick the door down.
GOAL takes a look at the winners and losers from the USWNT's victory, which came with two second-half goals.