How Lynn Williams got a second chance at the Olympics: ‘If I’m called upon, I will be ready’

Lynn Williams found out Thursday night that she had been promoted to the USWNT’s 18-player Olympic roster.

With midfielder Cat Macario forced to withdraw owing to ongoing irritation with her right knee, head coach Emma Hayes added Williams to the forward pool heading to France following the two send-off friendlies this week. Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams becomes one of the four alternates alongside goalkeeper Jane Campbell, and midfielders Hal Hershfelt and Croix Bethune.

While Williams for Macario was not a like-for-like substitution, Hayes said nothing changed about her approach to the roster. “I always viewed it as 22 (18 players plus four alternates) with the rule changes and such. Nothing changes,” she said. “What does change is that, without Cat, I have to think about some different permutations for the team, which I’ve already reflected on. For us, it’s about now looking towards that.”

Williams, 31, had to manage her empathy for Macario with excitement about being part of the roster.

“Obviously, devastated for Cat,” the Gotham forward told reporters on Friday. “As a player, you never want to see that. We’ve all been in that position before of injuries, but also the uniqueness of being dropped down. So I feel for her, but two things can be true. I’m devastated for her and have empathy for that, and also very excited.”

It actually took Hayes a full 30 minutes to get around to telling Williams because they were having such a “great chat”, according to the head coach.

“We were having such a good chit-chat about the differences between millennials and Generation Z and how they use the heart emoji,” Hayes said, gesturing. “It’s beyond me, but we had a really lovely conversation.”

“We had 30 minutes of pre-talk before she even told me the news, and then she told me the news, then we had 30 more minutes of just talking and getting to know her,” Williams said, laughing as she clarified it was about how the two different generations used their hands to show a heart.

Both agreed on the simple fact that they get along pretty well.

“I’m a straight-up person, and she’s a straight-up person,” Hayes said. “We’ve been really honest from the get-go. She’s been a delight to be around. I told her this last night: she seems really calm… I think because she’s been here before, she’s calm and can handle whatever’s there.”

Williams appreciates that Hayes is trying to find any tiny detail to help challenge and push her, despite now being one of the veterans on the USWNT and in the NWSL — but also that she is still working to get to know the players on a more personal level, what makes them tick, why they want to be on this team.

While the news may have been unexpected and forced due to injury, Williams is no stranger to being promoted to full-out Olympian. Originally an alternate for the Tokyo Olympics, she became eligible to play once the tournament rules were changed to expand the rosters to 22 players because of Covid-19.

“I’ve been in this position before,” Williams said. “Almost my whole career has been in this position. So I’m just excited for the opportunity if called upon, staying ready and being ready and doing whatever this team needs.”

That essentially sums up how her first Olympic experience went. Williams only earned 16 minutes of playing time during the group stage before starting the team’s quarterfinal against the Netherlands. She played a major role in that victory, providing an assist and a goal of her own before the match was eventually decided by penalties.

This summer, at least, she’ll finally experience an Olympics with fans in the stands. “Tokyo was weird. It was an experience,” she said, before pausing for a second. “I don’t even know how to sum that up in one interview. I’m just excited for the fans, I’m excited to see what the whole Olympics is about.”

Williams provides Hayes with a different look at the forward position. While Macario was likely to start as the team’s No. 10, either Crystal Dunn or Jaedyn Shaw could slot into that position as additional options behind Rose Lavelle, allowing Hayes some cover to bring in another attacker. Williams has a strong reputation for a defensive-minded forward, but she is also comfortable dribbling at defenses. Adding in her previous tournament experience only cements the decision.

Williams has embraced the state of staying ready for a call just like this one, and embracing her role — even if it is, at times, a deeply strange one — with the USWNT.

“I am a veteran now. I’ve been through this a couple of times,” she said. “Using that veteran quality and experience and help the team in any way, but also knowing that they believe in me that if I’m called upon, I will be ready.

“There’s a message in that for people who aren’t always the one that’s going to be the superstar. You can’t have a team of 22 superstars. You have to have people with different values and different attributes, and that’s one of mine.”

Even as Williams has missed out on call-ups this spring, she kept busy in the NWSL. She was speaking to reporters in the hallway maybe 100 yards away from the very spot she broke the NWSL’s all-time scoring record this spring.

“I said this to Emma last night: ‘I’m a very stubborn person’,” Williams said.

Her path to this moment was a combination of not taking no for an answer and a willingness to not put herself first when she did get the call. “That’s why I am always OK with being in any position on this team,” she said.

For Hayes, she expects — and wants — Williams to remind her that she is there to make her life difficult as a head coach. “I got a six-year-old,” Hayes joked, “there’s no way she can make it more difficult than him. I look forward to the challenge, but I also have challenged her to use (her experience) to make sure she raises the bar, and I know we’re both excited to work together.”

 (Top photo: John Todd/ISI Photos/Getty Images)