How the USWNT beat the Dutch in the fight for Lily Yohannes

In the span of six months, Lily Yohannes experienced the full gamut of reaction from fans of women’s international soccer.

In June, Yohannes was celebrated as she scored on her international debut for the U.S. women’s national team against South Korea, making her — at the age of 16 — the third-youngest player to score for the USWNT.

Because the appearance came in a friendly, though, it didn’t commit her to the U.S. program. There was still talk of her representing the Netherlands, where she has lived for the past seven years. It wasn’t until last month that the international tug-of-war finally ended, with Yohannes formally declaring her intention to represent the U.S. With it came some abuse from some Dutch fans on social media.

Then on Tuesday came another kind of international baptism: a friendly against the Dutch at The Hague’s Bingoal Stadium. The initial reaction when she entered the match as a 67th-minute substitute was positive enough. There were overwhelming cheers for a player who performs for famed Dutch side Ajax. But when Yohannes threw a second ball onto the field late in the match, with the U.S. clinging to a one-goal lead, the mood turned. She was booed by fans from her adopted country every time she touched the ball.

“I understand the reactions,” Yohannes told ESPN Netherlands after the match. “It is a choice I have to make, and I am happy with it. … I just want to continue now and just work hard to help the team and earn a place in the team.”

In between her introduction and those boos, Yohannes made her mark in a way that is sure to cause further angst in Dutch women’s soccer circles. Her header in the 71st minute released Yazmeen Ryan in space, and Ryan’s subsequent cross was directed home by Lynn Williams for the decisive goal in the 2-1 win. Yohannes was the first player to embrace Williams in celebration, capping an eventful year for the now-17-year-old.

That Yohannes ultimately pledged her international future to the U.S. is seen as something of a coup for the program, high praise considering that the USWNT is loaded with talent and ranked No. 1 in the world. Given the need for the USWNT to develop both attacking and defensive midfield types, the anticipation-meter for Yohannes has already gone past the red line.

“I will say from my own vantage point, but also what our scouts see, indicates an incredibly high ceiling,” NJ/NY Gotham FC GM Yael Averbuch said to ESPN of Yohannes. “I think the combination she has of her skill on the ball, her confidence, the athletic component of her quickness and her acceleration, and kind of that quick footwork as well as the balance to kind of maneuver and weave in and out and have the creativity in the passing, it’s like all the pieces of the game you would want. … So the possibilities with who she can become are fairly endless.”

Yohannes spending a large portion of her childhood abroad means she remains a player whom the U.S. public at large is still getting to know. As such, ESPN spoke with teammates, coaches and those around her to get a better idea of where she comes from, why she chose the U.S. over the Netherlands and how big of an impact she might have with the USWNT.

The maturation of a prodigy

Soccer was front and center in the Yohannes household. Her maternal grandfather, Bokretsion Gebrehiwot, was an Ethiopian international and scored the only goal in a 1968 African Cup of Nations group stage match against Ivory Coast. Her father, Daniel, was intent on immersing his children, including sons Aethan and Jayden, into the game. This included dragging them to Sunday evening kickabouts involving the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities.

“I think growing up it was always footy; it was always football in the house, always playing football,” Lily said during a conference call with reporters. “And yeah, I have two brothers who play and my dad played, my grandfather, so it’s sort of in the family, and since I started I’ve always loved it.”

Yohannes recalls being confined to the sideline during her early Sunday outings to those games, but as soon as she was deemed old enough, she began to take part.

These days, given the way that youth soccer is so formalized, especially in the U.S., the benefit of informal pickup games, or “street soccer,” seems like an anachronism. There seems to be little time for free play. Yohannes herself seemed to downplay its impact on her development, but she did admit that any time she could have contact with the ball was going to improve her skills, however incrementally.

“Whether you’re just training seriously or just kicking the ball around, I think that’s always great to be on the ball at a young age,” she said.

Averbuch senses there was a greater impact, one that can be seen in the player Yohannes is today.

“I think a lot of players who show really fluid movement with the ball and creativity in their passing and ability to use both feet, gain those skills from free play, whether it’s at recess at school or in the street, or playing in environments where there’s smaller numbers, more time on the ball, and a lot more action,” she said. “So definitely having the quick feet, creative passing, those are attributes that absolutely get fine-tuned in environments like that.”

That isn’t to say Yohannes didn’t benefit from more structured play. Her first forays into organized soccer were as a 5-year-old, playing 3-on-3 often with boys who were one to two years older than her.

Her coach at the time, Mohammed Onibudo, noticed Yohannes’ stamina and athleticism, but also her ability to assess time and space and make good decisions. It all added up to an environment that Onibudo feels honed her skills over time.

“I think because of her confidence in her strength mentally to play around boys, that allowed her to be bold in her creativity on how she received ball,” Onibudo told ESPN. “She was a complete package because her [pass] receiving, her dribbling, her making passes, were so exceptional at that age.

“It sounds very corny to say this, but at that age you can see the professional aspect of play from that little girl. When she plays, during warmup, her demeanor, her body language, unbelievable. So for me, over the years, it was, ‘When is that breakout going to be?’ Not whether she’s going to or not.”

While Yohannes’ love for the game was born in Virginia, she continued to excel in the Netherlands, where her family moved when she was 10. On amateur pitches across Amsterdam, the midfielder stood out, remembers Yohannes’ youth coach at WV-HEDW, Youssef Danad.

“The first time I saw her play was the year before she came to us. We played against her; we were first, they were second, so it was an important game,” Danad said to ESPN. “She gave a through pass to the striker, but the striker didn’t understand. That really scared me. If the striker had understood the pass, it would have been a goal. She was a step ahead of the rest. The fact that she saw that small space, I immediately asked who she was.”

A season later, Yohannes joined Danad’s team.

“She was one of the best of the team,” Danad said. “In the one-v-ones, she was one of the best during practices. She could easily pass two or three boys. They could appreciate that. They thought it was awesome. ‘Every ball should go to Lily!'”

It wasn’t long before professional clubs in the Netherlands became interested in the midfielder.

“She was physically quite strong,” Danad said. “Her first touches were good, she held the ball close to her body and always turned the right way; the dribbles and her passing. Actually, the Lily we see today is the Lily from back then, she just does everything quicker.”

Amsterdam giants Ajax plucked Yohannes from WV-HEDW, and she made her first-team debut at the age of 16.

Since then, she has been the most-fouled midfielder in the Azerion Vrouwen Eredivisie. She’s top three in the league among midfielders for recoveries in the final third, creating chances from open play and passes in the attacking box.

On top of that, Yohannes contributes to the Eredivisie leaders in the most important statistics: goals and assists. She has three goals and one assist in only eight games this season.

The Dutch recruitment drive

The Dutch football association (KNVB) started their recruitment of Yohannes when she was playing for WV-HEDW. Danad remembers the teenager attending KNVB practices and staying in contact, in case she ever got a Dutch passport.

When she was only 14, though, Yohannes had already given Danad the sense that she would not represent the Netherlands internationally. He felt her connection was with the U.S.

“I remember we used to tease her, ‘What if you ever have to choose?’ Back then she hinted at wanting to play for the U.S. national team. Back then she had more of a connection with the country, but it might have changed by now.”

At the beginning of 2024, Netherlands coach Andries Jonker shared that there were ongoing talks between Yohannes’ manager and the KNVB. At that point, the federation thought there was a fair chance that she would choose the Netherlands. Nigel de Jong, the former Dutch international who is now the KNVB’s technical director, became the primary point of contact for Yohannes.

His efforts weren’t enough.

“I read that she dreams of playing in an American shirt. She could have said so right away, it would have saved Nigel a lot of work,” Jonker said after Yohannes had decided to represent the U.S. “I think she should do what she wants to do. If that’s her dream, she should chase it and live it. I don’t want a player that prefers to play in a different shirt. Nigel has done his best. She made a different choice.”

Obviously the choice was not as simple as Jonker makes it seem.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy decision,” Yohannes told Ajax TV in November. “I’ve lived in the Netherlands for the past seven years. I’ve really adapted to everything here. I’ve made so many great friends and have experienced so many great things here. So I have a great connection to the Netherlands as well. The KNVB has been great to support me throughout this process.”

Dutch midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk was “a bit gutted” when she heard Yohannes had chosen to represent the U.S., she said, but added that none of her Oranje teammates tried to convince the 17-year-old to join them.

“She chooses America because her heart is there. Fair enough. You have to follow your heart and just go for it,” Van de Donk said. “She needs to figure it out on her own. We can pull her from every side but that’s not going to help her. You don’t want to mess with her head. She needs to do what’s right for her and get to a decision.”

Why the U.S. pitch to Yohannes succeeded

The U.S. Soccer Federation has a long, rich history of recruiting dual nationals, but these have tended to be on the men’s side of the house. In some ways, it is reflective of where the respective men’s and women’s teams exist among their peers.

While the USMNT often finds itself trying to catch up to the rest of the world from a talent perspective, that isn’t the case for the USWNT. The dual-national decisions on the women’s side have tended to be between the U.S. and Mexico, with there being more movement to El Tri Feminil than the other way around.

That said, that talent gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world has narrowed, and the USWNT wasn’t about to let Yohannes get away. The midfielder was called into U.S. youth national teams starting back in 2022; opportunities before that were limited because of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the long travel distances. The older she got, though, the more attention she received, with the Netherlands, her adopted country, making a play.

Among the lessons that the USSF has learned about recruiting dual nationals is that there’s a delicate balance between reaching out too much and not enough. These are intensely personal decisions. It’s almost as if the player is being asked to split apart their fused, multicultural identify, and pick one part of it over the other.

So earlier this year, interim USWNT manager Twila Kilgore continued the program’s outreach that had begun at youth level. She spoke with Yohannes over the phone and via videoconference. She also went to see Yohannes play live.

It was a happy coincidence that Yohannes’ Ajax played Hayes’ Chelsea in the Champions League. A call with between Hayes and Yohannes convinced the player to come to the USWNT camp back in April.

“These are things that have to be made on an individual basis and it’s our job to evaluate, to prepare, to make sure they’re set up for success, but also to expose and be honest and truthful about what the environment is, onboarding with our culture and things like that,” Kilgore said after the roster for the SheBelieves Cup had been announced. “And then the player has the ability to make a choice and we will support that.”

When Yohannes arrived in April, and then later for the June friendlies, the impression she made was positive and immediate. Lindsey Horan spoke of how composed Yohannes had been in big games, including the Champions League.

“I feel jealous of that,” Horan said. “That’s not how I was at that time.”

Horan added that she did what she could to lighten the mood.

“When she first came into U.S. camp, there were little jokes made here and there,” she said. “For us, we didn’t want to put added pressure [on her]. I was probably making the most jokes to her.”

The camps made the right impression on Yohannes, even as she was still pondering her options with the Netherlands. It’s worth noting that Yohannes hadn’t yet acquired Dutch citizenship, although that was viewed as being a formality.

“I think I was given space from both federations just giving me my opportunity to make a decision,” she said. “And I think being involved with the full team in those two camps, it was a really great experience, and yeah, I’m really good for that.”

The Olympics rolled around. Sources have told ESPN that Yohannes was given the option of being an alternate on the Olympic team, one she turned down. She wasn’t quite ready to make a decision.

Once the Olympics were over, there was a consistent, but not overbearing amount of communication between Yohannes, her representatives and the USWNT. Hayes and the players had made their case earlier in the year. Yohannes now knew what the USWNT was about. Her family and others close to her told her she needed to follow her heart.

Last month, Yohannes chose the USWNT.

“The U.S. is my home country, my birth country,” she said to Ajax TV of her decision. “I have so many family members there. I have a deep, heartfelt connection with the country. My love for the game started in the U.S. Ever since then it has been a dream of mine to play for the U.S. national team.

“I think having been involved with the team, it was such an amazing experience. Wearing the shirt is an indescribable feeling, and I just know that’s where my heart’s at.”

Her teammates are pleased as well.

“She couldn’t have gone wrong with her decision, but I’m obviously very happy that we got her,” Horan said of Yohannes. “She’s a world-class player.”