Emily Fox made her 68th appearance for the United States in the first of two recent friendlies against Portugal and the Arsenal right-back has been a steady hand for Emma Hayes.

Hayes has her eye on the 2027 World Cup after winning Olympic gold 15 months ago, and has used 2025 to evolve and evaluate the pool of players. Over the course of 10 wins and three defeats in that timeframe, Fox has been a dynamic force difficult to dislodge from the right flank of a new project. Her speed and skill are essential to the team’s defence and intrinsic to their attack.

Looking back on 2025 with the US Women’s National Team, Fox says she would define the year as “part of the process”. The 27-year-old says: “I feel like every camp there is a huge learning that we’re taking out of it, whether that’s on the field or even culturally off the field. I think Emma and her staff are really good at that. So even though we didn’t have a major tournament this year, it still felt like there was a lot of growth, a lot of change, a lot of new people getting chances and...