We're just nine months away from the Olympics and, as things stand, the U.S. women's national team is still treading water. There's still no permanent head coach and no real direction. Those things will need to come soon if this team is to have any hope of making the changes needed after a disastrous World Cup.
That's the big picture after October camp, one that showed just how much work there is still to do. Unfortunately, it'll take some time to get the coach in to do that work. Until then, the hope will be that we can see small steps forward from individuals as the wait goes on for the team-wide overhaul.
We got that in October, as the U.S. beat Colombia 3-0 after drawing their first clash 0-0. We saw some new faces make their cases, even if they didn't quite get as much run as folks would have liked. We saw some players reintegrated after long absences. Say what you will, but the player pool feels like it is changing.
Will it be enough in time for the Olympics? We don't know yet. What we do know is that this camp will have felt like the key for some players, which means it may end up feeling like the key for a USWNT desperate to usher in some new faces.
GOAL breaks down the USWNT's winners & losers from October camp: