Yohannes passing skills: What jumps out about Lily Yohannes is not the goal she scored or that she is just a teenager, it is her pass to Trinity Rodman. Of course those things are impressive, her age and the goal, but it is her passing skills that are most remarkable.
Lily Yohannes’ long through ball pass to Rodman.
Her goal was amazing but this ball and vision from Lily Yohannes, too… why have we had her on the bench, lol. #USWNT pic.twitter.com/7Iizsuj8PI
— mikasa (@mikasa22) June 5, 2024
Forward Sophia Smith said this about Yohannes:
“Lily is a baller, like from the first day she came into camp, she was making these passes that you don’t see a 16-year-old make. She’s confident, she’s composed.”
Baller is the perfect description for Yohannes. But Smith says, “passes that you don’t see a 16-year-old make,” which is in a way true but there’s only one or two players on the women’s national team who make those passes with such precision.
From time to time you will see someone like Lindsey Horan make a pass like this one, but few others on the team do it or see it. It is impressive how Rodman and Yohannes are on the same page here, too. Rodman is almost pointing down the line to where she wants the ball.
Yohannes’ performance in the game should make her a lock for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
The women’s national team coach, Emma Hayes, had this to say about Yohannes post game:
“She is a natural footballer that is confident in her abilities,” Hayes said. “I think playing in Europe has helped, has accelerated her play. She’s had exposures that many American 16-year-olds have not had, and it shows. There was a maturity to it even at a tender age. She manages it. It’s her second camp, and there’s already been a step up from the first to the second. I want to celebrate her first cap. It’s a really special moment for her and her family.”
Soccer is a simple game, many say. Pass the ball and move. Pass the ball and get it back. That is what Yohannes does on the soccer field. And it is no wonder, since she plays for Ajax. Perhaps the football club that was Barcelona’s tiki taka possession game before Barcelona implemented it.
For young soccer players, watch how Yohannes uses her body to protect the ball so the defender can’t get a touch. And watch how she plays the way she’s facing. That is simple soccer. And notice who her teammates keep feeding her the ball. They are comfortable with the balls she’s playing to them and vice versa.
She doesn’t try to turn when it isn’t on. She instead will play the ball back to where it came from and then move to a spot where she can get half turned and can’t see more of the field and her teammates making runs. Yes, for a sixteen year old she’s ahead of her time in that way.
What is true as well is that other players will like playing her the ball since she understands the game. They will keep making runs since she’s able to get them the ball when they make a run. She sees the field. Has good vision. Moreover, the pace on her passes is perfect – crisp and or soft when needed.
Here is the video of 16-year-old Lily Yohannes’ goal. She became the third-youngest goalscorer in USWNT history with a debut goal against South Korea. Yohannes simply steadies herself and passes the ball into the back of the net.
Furthermore, another reason the United States has to take her to the Olympics is so she stays playing with the United States. The Netherlands might try to up the pressure on her playing for them!
Some versions of this you’re seeing on social media, and they aren’t wrong. Remember the name: Lily Yohannes. Again, what stands out about her debut is the Yohannes pass to Rodman. Surely we’ll see plenty more of these passes from her.
