Joseph has an opportunity to keep building on her strong 2025 season
By Lesley Ryder
Chicago Stars forward Jameese Joseph is going to the SheBelieves Cup.
The Maryland native joins the senior National Team camp for her third-straight call-up. She spent the earlier months of the 2025 season in camp with the U-23 team.
For Joseph, it’s a chance to seize an opportunity as Catarina Macario and Sophia Wilson keep working on their returns to health and form. “I think if I go backwards and say, Look, honestly if, if Kat Macario and Sophia Wilson were fit for selection, they would have been selected as the nines. But that means that we're going to have to keep developing in this area” USWNT head coach told members of the media in a press conference.
Hayes tapped Joseph to take the 9 position in the team’s January camp. Joseph usually plays out wide on the wing for the Chicago Stars, but with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon, Hayes is committed to building more depth for the team up front. “She said, ‘that's where I want to be. That's what I want to do’, and she impressed me all week.” said Hayes. “I think she's got a combination of things that that we look for in terms of her ability to hold up the play really, really well and stretch, and she can do both of them.”
On January 26, Joseph earned her first start, and in the 26th minute, Yazmeen Ryan threaded a pass to her feet. She spun around, protecting the ball from a Chilean defender, and unloaded a shot past the diving goalkeeper for her first international goal. The effort impressed Hayes. “It’s the highest level, you're not going to get a lot of opportunities, and you got to take them,” said Hayes at the SheBelieves media presser I felt she was clinical in what she did, and I want to see more of her in that position, knowing we have to develop.”
Upon her appointment in 2024, USWNT head coach Emma Hayes made a commitment to re-establishing the youth pathways to the senior national team. Her quest to cast a wide net, and build on the team’s depth is a welcome change from the static roster build that sent the USWNT to their earliest-ever World Cup exit. The development pathways reward young players like Jameese Joseph, who excel in club play, but are further down the USWNT depth chart than their more senior compatriots. The U-23 team trained in parallel with the senior team, allowing them to learn the ins and outs of the
With the Chicago Stars dealing with their own depth issues, we’ll have to wait and see if head coach Martin Sjogren agrees with Emma Hayes on where Joseph can have an impact for the Chicago Stars. Joseph scored four goals and two assists during a tumultuous last-place season for the Stars, featuring four different head coaches.
The Stars wrapped their preseason training in Murcia, Spain with a 2-1 record against a mix of European and American opponents. They’ll continue their preseason slate on February 28th against Lexington SC of the Gainsbridge Super League.