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The U.S. women's national team might be headed to another tournament but the youth-inspired roster for this month's Concacaf W Gold Cup leaves plenty of questions to be answered as the Olympics rapidly approach.

Interim head coach Twila Kilgore will oversee a squad that closely resembles the group that took part in the USWNT's friendlies against China in December, which were treated as a chance to expand the player pool. With a mix of veterans like Alyssa Naeher and Crystal Dunn, the team's new core players like Sophia Smith and Naomi Girma, and exciting newcomers like Jedyn Shaw and Mia Fishel, the shortlist of candidates for a ticket to Paris seems to be locked in.

Combined with mainstays like Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn, who will sit out the Gold Cup, and soon-to-return talents like Mallory Swanson and Catarina Macario, incoming head coach Emma Hayes will have around 30 players to choose from come July. It will be no small task, though, considering the Olympics roster is just 18 players plus four alternates.

It means the handful of windows left for Hayes and company to tinker with the team will make for an incredibly competitive run-up to the Olympics, something that Kilogre admitted in a press conference on Wednesday.

"Everything that happens in the Gold Cup will matter in terms of the future and everything that is happening outside of the Gold Cup will matter in the future," she said. "We recognize that there's multiple players that aren't' going to be in the environment that we're still looking at that are still very much so in the mix."

Here are three questions that the coaching staff will need to answer in time for the Paris Games.

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1. How many spots are up for grabs?

There are several players on the Gold Cup roster that feel very likely to travel to Paris, primarily those that played a sizable role at last year's Women's World Cup. That group takes up about half of the roster spots available for the Olympics, which teases the possibility that the roster might look fairly different than the one that competed in Australia and New Zealand a year earlier.

Naeher still seems to be the main choice in goal but a spot as her understudy could be available, while Girma, Dunn and Emily Fox might still have big roles to play across the back line. Whether Hayes eventually opts to play three in the back or four, there's at least one spot open for someone to partner Girma -- and a lot of contenders. On the Gold Cup roster alone, Hayes can pick from Tierna Davidson, Abby Dahlkemper and Alana Cook, while training camp invitee Gisele Thompson is also part of the expanded player pool.

The USWNT's midfield might be the most in flux area on the field because of a long-needed reset after the retirements of Julie Ertz and Sam Mewis. A couple of World Cup participants -- Savannah DeMelo and Andi Sullivan -- will not actually be in the mix at the Gold Cup, so it leaves Kilgore and Hayes with a lot of options. Veterans like Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett are perhaps the main choices to occupy some midfield spots but space for rotational options is very much available.

Further up the pitch, a short-term question Hayes will have to answer is where to play Smith, who successfully slots in at center forward and out wide. Making a choice there, though, opens up a series of other questions about who will play alongside her and who backs her up. The wide positions are very important ones for Hayes, and there are many wingers on this roster -- defenders Dunn, Fox and Casey Krueger are options as are forwards Rodman, Lynn Williams and Midge Purce.

2. Will Swanson and Macario be in the picture?

While fringe players in the Gold Cup roster will have a chance to build a case for themselves, there are a couple of players who are waiting in the wings -- Swanson and Macario. Both are slated to return soon from ACL tears, and their recoveries will likely dictate their status heading into the Olympics. It's a short ramp, but between looks for club and country, there might be just enough time for either one of them to have a shot.

Both also seem destined to be in the fold for the long run, especially Swanson. She seemed poised to be the focal point of the USWNT's attack before rupturing her ACL three months before the World Cup, and even though she has been out of the fold for a year, Kilgore noted her importance has not dwindled.

"We know that in anything that Mal's doing, she brings a really high level of professionalism, high level of execution," she said. "We believe she's absolutely ready for this step and she's just a really important leader in this team. She's stayed connected and involved in different ways while going through her recovery and this is just the next, natural direction. Her influence is always felt in camp so we expect that she's going to continue to help raise the standards on the field and within our team culture."

As for Macario, her flexibility to play both as an attacking midfielder and a center forward could boost her prospects for making a small roster. Hayes said earlier this week that she will make her return by early March, and Kilgore seemed eager for the versatile player to come back into the national team fold.

"I was able to spend some time with Cat myself," this winter, Kilgore said. "I believe Cat's in a really good space mentally, she's progressing well physically. She's looking forward to the point in time when it's most appropriate for her to come back into our environment."

3. Can Morgan, Sauerbrunn hold onto their spots?

Though veterans Morgan and Sauerbrunn have missed some recent national team camps, Kilgore was quick to admit that neither player is officially out of the running for Paris.

"Nobody is out of the mix," the interim head coach said. "That goes for some of our bigger names, that goes for some of our lesser [known] names that we've been tracking. We want to get it right … This is the group we feel is the right group for right now and who we need to look at in this tournament."

For Morgan and Sauerbrunn, their reputations precede them and their presences in the locker room speak for themselves. Both players are coming off of a rough year, though -- Morgan scored just nine goals for club and country in 2023, while Sauerbrunn was a member of the NWSL's third-most porous defense after recovering from a foot injury that kept her out of the World Cup.

There's no reason not to take Kilgore at her word, and it's likely too early to rule anyone out of the running anyway. The next few months are crucial not just for Morgan and Sauerbrunn, but the players that are competing for those positions and most importantly Hayes. While the veterans will be tasked with showcasing their well-established talent once again and the younger players will need to live up to their potential, Hayes will ultimately have to choose what is more valuable to her: experience or promise.

USWNT roster for Gold Cup

Goalkeepers (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (8): Alana Cook (Seattle Reign FC), Abby Dahlkemper (San Diego Wave FC), Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (NY/NJ Gotham FC)

Midfielders (6): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA), Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC)