‘There’s this buzz of excitement’: Emily Fox on USWNT and Arsenal ambitions | OneFootball

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 opportunities.”

Whereas in 2024 Hayes took hold of a programme two months before winning the gold medal, 2025 has allowed the former Chelsea manager more time to work on the team’s identity and refine tactics. According to Fox, Hayes has focused on the way they adapt. “I think really just being tactically flexible and aware and understanding that with a lot of opponents, they come out one way against one team, and then when they play us they play differently. And having that tactical ability to recognise that on the field, and then being able to talk to your teammates and collectively, as well as individually, make those changes on the fly.”

More experienced players such as Fox have provided an essential spine of continuity to a team evolving around them. Thanks to injuries, retirements and myriad other causes, Fox was one of only a handful of players who started the gold-medal match in Paris and the first friendly of this past window. For Fox, it’s important to focus on the team’s principles as they adjust. But the impact of evolving the team with the younger generation is exciting: “With the game and with our national team there’s just this buzz of excitement. And I feel like with younger players, they want to see their opportunities. They want to make the most of it. They want to have fun. They want to enjoy it. I think there’s definitely this level of confidence and creativity that they all want to show, which is really exciting.”

In 2025, the USWNT lost three times in calendar year for the fifth time. They were beaten by Portugal for the first time on 23 October but reading too much into that, as well as defeats against Japan and Brazil, would be unwise. They have come in a transitional year when Hayes has prioritised integrating new personnel and experimenting. The overarching importance of this year will be the lessons it provides for 2026.

A few days after losing to Portugal in Pennsylvania, the USWNT adjusted their tactics and lineup and beat the same opponents 3-1. Fox says of Portugal’s first showing: “I thought they had a lot of patience and that they trusted their gameplan, and they executed it in turn.” Echoing Hayes, Fox said the 113 days between their previous friendly and that loss to Portugal had them looking a bit rusty, which was a learning for the team as well.

“I think with us having not seen each other in like four or five months, and then with Portugal being our first game, I think it was a really good lesson also in the sense of how aggressive and physical we need to be, and really non-tactical stuff like getting our tackles in, bumping, blocking, being aggressive. Because I also think with Portugal, they’re very savvy in the way that they foul and the way that they play the game within the game.”

Fox moved to London nearly two years ago to grow her game and experience it across the pond. The Virginia native has frequently emphasised the appeal of playing in the Champions League as inspiration for her move and last May she won it with Arsenal. Fox says the experience expanded her perception of the things she was capable of: “​​I feel like it added a whole other depth to me. Last year we had to do all the qualifying rounds going into the Champions League to even be a part of it. And so that started right on the Olympics, and it was so challenging. I mean, the whole Champions League was so challenging. I think at the end of the Champions League, and even through it, I was like: ‘Look, I’ve been through this. I can get through this.’”

Arsenal have started slowly in the Champions League – where they opened with a defeat by the eight-time champions OL Lyonnes– and the Women’s Super League, where they are fifth, five points behind the leaders, Chelsea, who they play on Saturday. But Arsenal are no strangers to coming back from defeats to win things or to making a statement as a dark horse. This is how they rode their way to Champions League glory and Fox says: “It’s time to turn it around and to come back and make a statement. I mean, that’s very much my mentality.”

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