The United States women's national team produced a stirring second-half comeback on Tuesday night, coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 with world champions Spain at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania — with Mallory Swanson scoring her first international goal since the 2024 Olympic final to complete the fightback four minutes from time.
Three days earlier, Spain had beaten the USA 2-0 in Washington, and for 45 minutes this rematch followed exactly the same script. In front of 18,648 fans, the world No. 1 side were slicker, sharper and two goals ahead before the hosts had settled.
Spain race clear as Putellas marks her milestone
Alexia Putellas, making her 150th appearance for Spain, opened the scoring in the 27th minute, arriving at the far post to finish Clara Serrajordi's delivery. Five minutes later Putellas turned provider, sending Salma Paralluelo through to double the lead — a goal that, as the official U.S. Soccer match report recorded, left the home crowd silent and Emma Hayes with a familiar problem to solve.
It was the second straight game in which Spain had scored twice before half-time against the Americans, and at that stage a second defeat in four days looked inevitable. The USA had been without midfielder Sam Coffey for this window, as our earlier report on Coffey's injury withdrawal explained, and Spain's midfield control showed exactly why her absence mattered.
Sanchez sparks the fightback
Hayes changed shape after the break, shifting to a back three and flooding the wide areas, and the response was immediate. Four minutes into the second half, Sophia Wilson fed Ashley Sanchez, who drove inside and finished low into the far corner. It was a landmark night for Sanchez in more than one way: her first USWNT start in almost two years, her fourth international goal, and a reminder of why she currently leads the NWSL scoring charts with North Carolina Courage.
From there the game changed completely. Hayes threw on wave after wave of substitutes — eight changes in total across the second half — and Spain, so comfortable before the interval, were pushed deeper and deeper. Kate Del Fava and Pietra Tordin both came on for their international debuts in the 80th minute, with the United States chasing the game rather than protecting reputations.
Swanson's moment, two years in the making
The equaliser arrived in the 86th minute. Michelle Cooper crossed from the right and Swanson, who had come off the bench on the hour, volleyed home to make it 2-2. The goal was her 39th for the USA and her first since she scored the winner in the Olympic gold-medal match against Brazil on 10 August 2024. After maternity leave kept her out through 2025, she also became the 12th mother to score for the national team — a detail the USA Today live report rightly treated as the story of the night.
The USA nearly won it at the death, too, with Lilly Yohannes seeing a deflected long-range effort tipped away in the final seconds. Hayes praised the fearlessness of her second-half substitutes afterwards, and Swanson summed up the mood simply, saying she was grateful to be back scoring for this team.
So what — a draw that tells Hayes plenty
A friendly draw in October will not move any rankings, but its timing matters. The USA's next match is no friendly in any real sense: El Salvador in the Concacaf W Championship quarter-final on 27 November, where a win books a place at the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. Spain, already qualified, are the benchmark for that tournament — and for one half here they showed the gap. For the other half, Hayes found answers: a new shape, a returning Sanchez in the form of her club season, and a fit-again Swanson scoring the kind of goal she built her reputation on. With World Cup qualifying money and development funding also reshaping the women's game — see our report on FIFA's $6.35 billion development plan — the race to Brazil is about depth as much as star power, and on Tuesday night the USA's depth changed a game the starters were losing.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this was the most useful result of Hayes's autumn — not because a draw with Spain flatters anyone, but because it proved this squad can change a game from the bench against the best team in the world. Our verdict: Sanchez has played her way into the qualifying XI, and if Swanson is scoring again by November, the road to Brazil looks far shorter than it did at half-time in Chester. Did Hayes find her best team on Tuesday — or just her best Plan B?
