After rapid rise through USWNT ranks, 17-year-old Lily Yohannes is focused on steady growth
The 17-year-old U.S. women's national team midfielder selected her words just as carefully from her Los Angeles hotel as she did from the Ajax training facility the first time she spoke with The Athletic in Amsterdam just over a year ago.
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Many things have changed since then, namely, Yohannes' decision to represent the United States at the international level, and not the Netherlands. But her composed consideration is by design, a mechanism to keep her feet planted firmly in the present.
'I think just trying to stay as present as I can,' she said when asked how she manages the pace of her career. 'I've been grateful to have experienced so many great moments in such a short career so far. I think just having a great support system around me with my family, coaches, teammates, and them all just helping me to stay grounded, stay on track.'
In Los Angeles, head coach Emma Hayes has made clear that the U.S. women's national team is in very early World Cup-building mode, with a year until the team's first qualifiers of the 2027 cycle. She is relinquishing a focus on chemistry to properly assess players. However, demands for excellence have always been part and parcel of this team, and Yohannes has already felt the impact of Hayes' approach.
'I've already grown and learned so much from her in a year or so,' she said. 'You can really feel how much she is invested in every player, every player's development in this environment, and I think she just pushes the standard and has expectations of what she wants from us and how she wants us to play, and I think just trying to be intentional (with) every detail.'
Even as women's soccer continues to mature, there remains a fixation on its youth, particularly in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which boasts a hyper-competitive table of teams eager to bolster their rosters with fresh talent but lacks the culture and structure of Europe's youth academy development system. That, combined with the lucrative opportunities of the American sports and entertainment market, intensifies the impulse to catapult teenage soccer phenoms into stardom.
Considering Yohannes' unflappable style of play at the age of 17, it is less surprising that she has remained committed to steadiness as her professional world expands.
'I've gotten some advice of, 'Don't get too high on the highs and too low on the lows' and just trying to stay steady through it all,' she said. 'For me, I have so many more goals that I want to achieve and obviously I celebrate the great achievements, but also just know that there's more that (I) want and more goals that (I) want to accomplish.'
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Yohannes has already crossed some considerable goals off her list. She signed her first professional contract with Ajax when she was 15. A Champions League run with the club followed shortly thereafter, and Yohannes became the youngest player to start in a group stage match in the continental tournament. That year, Ajax reached the quarterfinals but was knocked out by Chelsea — who Hayes was coaching.
Yohannes received her first invitation to the U.S. national team camp later that month as the team prepared for the SheBelieves Cup, an opportunity that did not tie her to the team but provided an up-close glimpse of the national team environment while she continued to consider her commitment. Yohannes earned her first cap on June 4 in a U.S. friendly against South Korea, a debut in which she scored a goal 10 seconds after stepping onto the pitch as a 72nd-minute substitute for midfielder Korbin Albert.
Yohannes announced her commitment to play for the U.S. five months later on Nov. 11 and featured for the national team later that month and in early December in fixtures against England and the Netherlands.
Now, with the team's Olympic gold medal run in the rearview mirror and its far-sighted visions set on the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, Yohannes said she can get back to another, quieter yet no less crucial goal: growth.
'In the short term, (it's) staying present and continuing to work and grow with club and at the international level,' she said. 'With the national team, just trying to take every experience that I can and learning and growing in this environment. It's always an honor to come into camp and I just want to perform and help this team as best I can, and do the same at club.'
At the moment, Ajax is in a tight title race in the Eredivisie between Twente, currently at the top of the table, and PSV, who are ahead of Ajax but level with Twente on points. Just one point separates Ajax, who won the league title last year, from the other contenders.
Conversations around opportunities in Europe are gaining traction in the U.S. women's soccer landscape, especially after defender Naomi Girma's $1.1 million move to Chelsea, something Yohannes acknowledged as a sign of growth.
'I've been in the Netherlands since I was 10, and that's sort of just normal for me. I think playing in the academy system with the boys and then at Ajax has helped me to develop, and I would say everybody's path is different,' she said. 'It's just per your own personal choices, and I think it's great to have so many great leagues all over the globe.'
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She added that beginning her career in Europe meant focusing on the technical and tactical aspects of the game and that playing against other European teams and being exposed to a variety of playing styles has only benefited her.
'Ajax is a very possession-oriented team playing attacking football and having a sort of DNA has helped me to develop and grow qualities in my game,' she said. 'I think within Europe as a whole, it's super diverse which is amazing, having Champions League and all those diverse teams and clubs come together and compete against each other.'
Yohannes isn't the only player in the U.S. camp who had options as to which country she could represent, nor is she the only player who pursued opportunities in Europe at a young age.
Although Catarina Macario's path was markedly different from Yohannes' — the Brazilian-American forward completed three seasons at Stanford before setting off for Europe, first with Olympique Lyonnais and now Chelsea — the two have formed a bond after just two camps together.
'Cat's super cool. I think we have a great bond on and off the pitch,' Yohannes said. 'I think she sort of took me under her wing when I first came into camp. Last camp was our first time playing together, so I know that's something we were both looking forward to. Cat's just such an amazing player with so much quality, so I've really enjoyed playing with her and off the field (we're) having a good time.'
If given the chance again to partner in the U.S. attack against Brazil — first at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday and again at San Jose's PayPal Park on Tuesday, April 8 — Yohannes and Macario's combined creativity on the ball could prove enough to withstand the South American team's attempt at revenge after falling to the U.S. 1-0 in the Paris Olympics gold medal match last summer.
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