Megan Rapinoe heaps praise on USWNT youngsters: 'It's the depth that really wins' tournaments

USWNT head coach Emma Hayes has used the post-Olympics period to expand the player pool

The U.S. women's national team may currently be without a handful of the stars that were part of their gold medal-winning run at the Olympics, but retired soccer star Megan Rapinoe believes that the group's current transition period is a perfect follow-up act to last summer's triumph.

USWNT head coach Emma Hayes will work with just 10 members of the Olympics roster for this month's friendlies against Brazil, including just one of the "triple espresso" – Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson – who together scored 10 goals at the Paris Games last summer. Rapinoe argued that the Olympics built a solid foundation for Hayes, who can now work on developing the next generation of players with the long countdown to the 2027 Women's World Cup underway.

"We saw what they did last summer, winning the gold medal," Rapinoe said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CBS Sports Golazo Network's Morning Footy alongside retired basketball legend Sue Bird, her fiancé and podcast co-host. "Emma was in charge for, like, five minutes and wrangled the team. We know what the 'triple espresso' can do but with those players being out, I feel like we've been seeing a lot of depth – Lily Yohannes making her debut and playing really well, Ally Sentnor making her debut and playing really well. I love that no matter what, we're getting goals."