How Arsenal's first U.S. tour can help them end WSL drought

WASHINGTON -- After two seasons that fell short of expectations, 2024-25 feels like a pivotal one for Arsenal. It's also shaping up to be a make-or-break campaign for manager Jonas Eidevall. Yet the 29 players who travelled for the club's first major pre-season tour of the U.S. -- a 10-day trip that saw games against the NWSL's Washington Spirit and Women's Super League (WSL) rivals Chelsea -- looked relaxed, engaged and exuberant..

Even when battling the heat during training at George Mason University, the squad seemed to have a renewed sense of purpose and optimism. The tour, coupled with a short break away from football over the summer, was exactly what Arsenal needed to recharge their batteries ahead of a new WSL season that begins on Sept. 22 with high expectations and pressure.

It's been five years since Arsenal last won the WSL. In the last two campaigns, they were out of contention long before the final stretch and despite winning two League Cups in as many years, failure to win major silverware this season could put Eidevall -- who has two years left on his contract -- in jeopardy.

In a bid to press the reset button and gather some momentum, the club embarked on a U.S. tour over the summer that took eight months to plan. ESPN was granted exclusive access, going behind the scenes to see how the Gunners plan to turn things around.

Risk and reward

Despite the controversy around Arsenal's 20,000 mile round-trip to Australia -- they played an A-League All-Stars Women's team in an exhibition match on May 24, just six days after the end of the WSL season, which caused a backlash over player welfare and climate concerns -- the idea was simple: connect with the club's fans on the other side of the world.

"I think sometimes these trips get a bad name when you're saying it's commercial, because for me these are connection trips," Eidevall says. "This is our way to bring our game to people that care very deeply about what we do and we really like the experience to meet them live and to experience their support. It's really about that connection part and it's special."

The club's open training session in Australia drew 5,000 fans. And while the commercial aspect remains a significant and necessary driving force, the U.S. tour was modelled after the successful strategies used by the men's teams and is aimed at growing the women's game around the world.

"[It] aims to move [the club] towards hopefully a better financially sustainable model," Arsenal's director of football Clare Wheatley tells ESPN. "I think now there is money to be made [in the women's game]. It is a commercial venture and a responsibility that we have to actually grow the game as well."

With plenty of U.S.-based Arsenal fans, a stateside trip made sense; however, the choice to face Washington Spirit and Chelsea was far from arbitrary. Indeed, the decision to face formidable opponents in challenging conditions was made to push the team to its limits. For Eidevall, embracing risk is essential to reaping big rewards.

"We don't want nice, we want to be tested, and to see if can we go that extra mile next season," Eidevall said. "That's why it's so important to start with Washington. It's a deeply uncomfortable experience coming here and [due to a summer break] not being ready to play a game like that. We are not ready, and we're going to play in front of an almost sold-out stadium against the team in [the middle of their] season. This is risk and reward.

"We're not after a nice season; we're not after just having a nice time. We're after winning. We need to take some uncomfortable steps in order to put in that necessary pressure on ourselves."

The Spirit are certainly no pushovers. With former Barcelona manager Jonatan Giráldez at the helm, an NWSL championship in 2021 and a host of USWNT players including Trinity Rodman, Casey Krueger, Croix Bethune and Andi Sullivan, Eidevall is aware of the test they will offer.

"To go towards pressure and to go towards uncomfortable situations is what gives you that extra edge," he adds. "That's what a winning team does, and by putting pressure on ourselves, that's going to be uncomfortable, but so it's going to be what we need in order to turn into a winning team."

In assessing where Arsenal have struggled in recent years, inconsistency and a slow start to the season were two main themes that continually cropped up in conversations with players and staff. Last year, their early Champions League exit -- their preparations weren't helped by the World Cup ending in mid-August, which gave them less time to prepare -- and failure to secure a WSL win until matchday three in mid-October, led to them finishing third in the WSL, five points behind Manchester City and champions Chelsea. This year, with a more rigorous and well-planned preseason, the club are aiming to start fast.

"We believe that we've really grown over the last 12 months, and that growth should really show itself in trophies," Wheatley told ESPN at the Watergate Hotel in the Watergate complex, famous for being the site of the start of the scandal in 1972 that brought down President Richard Nixon. "We do have a trusted historical record, but it's not about what we've done; it's about what we're going to do. Not winning the league for so many years is very un-Arsenal-like."

While the Gunners face a tough test against City in their first WSL match on Sept. 22, the decision to match up against WSL winners Chelsea in preseason was also calculated. The Blues have a new manager -- former Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor took over from the legendary Emma Hayes, who landed the USWNT job this summer -- and while it could have been easier to play their London opponent behind closed doors, Eidevall believes the added pressure that comes with a trip to the U.S. will be good for his players.

"It's not so important from a results perspective," he says. "But it's really important from a performance perspective for us to have this as an opportunity to really test how good we are at the things that we want to be good at."

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The storming phase

During the course of the tour, Eidevall spent over an hour across two stints exclusively with ESPN. The manager recounted his complex relationship with pressure, rooted in his early days at Malmö, a club steeped in a relentless winning culture. After stepping away from the high-stakes environment of a head coach, he chose a different path, moving to Denmark's second league to serve as an assistant. It was in those four formative years that he honed his ability to thrive under pressure, turning adversity into a catalyst for growth.

Armed with this newfound resilience, he described blending pressure and motivation into a "really potent cocktail" that fuelled his return to the head coach position at Rosengard (formerly Malmö) and ultimately paved his way to Arsenal. And now, one of the ways the Swede wants his team to develop is to encounter conflict -- not to stir up unnecessary chaos but to confront and resolve differing viewpoints, roles, and communication styles head-on.

Indeed, he believes in navigating these challenges through a structured four-phase approach that plays out through preseason and gives the team the best chance for success before their UEFA Champions League qualifier vs. Rangers on Sept. 4. The initial stage, where everyone is enthusiastic and eager; the second phase, aptly named the "storming phase," where conflicts arise and are confronted; followed by "norming," where harmony begins to form; and finally, "performing," where the team operates at peak efficiency.

Eidevall was determined to push the team through the "storming phase" during preseason, ensuring they ironed out any problems before the campaign started to prevent any mid-season issues that could jeopardise their ambitions.

"We need the 'storming phase' to be here, so actually I think this is one of the best things with this trip. I think we've been so tied together, so I think we have been 'storming' a little bit here," he says. "We have had healthy conflicts, player to player, staff to staff and, working really constructively in a way to get real role clarity, clarity on wrong processes, making sure we can break down this really big ambitious goal into more scalable goals that will lead us that way. And it can be directly linked to the behaviours that we need to do."

Eidevall admits that the ideal scenario is for Arsenal to be in the "performing stage" when the team face Rangers on Wednesday -- at worst, he wants them in the "norming phase" -- so work over the tour has focused on resolving the conflicts which are a natural occurrence when you bring together ambitious people.

"All that passion and energy will need to be directed," he adds. "And the only way to do that is to resolve those situations that appear. I think we are doing that in a really healthy way."

Young Guns given a chance to step up

The club brought six academy prospects to America. Katie Reid (17), Freya Godfrey (18), and Vivienne Lia (17) started in the 2-1 win against Washington Spirit, allowing key internationals to rest, while Michelle Agyemang (18), Maddison Earl (17), and Laila Harbert (17) made an impact off the bench.

"It just shows us that our future is bright and there is competition for the seasoned internationals that have been in our squad for many years," Wheatley says.

With so many first-team players having their minutes carefully managed due to a gruelling season, Eidevall also highlighted the need for young players to step up, saying: "I am a big believer in that you do not know a potential of a person or a player unless you give them opportunities and that might be deeply uncomfortable at times to do."

One new arrival, 21-year-old Rosa Kafaji, quickly captured the hearts of fans in Washington. A highly rated forward who drew transfer interest from Chelsea and Barcelona after impressing in the Champions League group stage with BK Häcken, Kafaji made her presence felt for her new club by assisting Alessia Russo's second goal against the Spirit, despite having only been with the team for a week.

Already a Sweden international, her professionalism is beyond her years, and her infectious personality has quickly made her at ease in her new environment. "It's been a nice trip; I would say this camp here was perfect for me," Kafaji tells ESPN. "You go away with a team, you get to bond with them in another way. At the training round, you go do your training, go home. So this has been a great time, so I'm just enjoying it."

As well as giving youth a chance to shine, one key focus of the tour was to help integrate the new signings into the team.

Alongside Kafaji, Arsenal secured World Cup winning forward Mariona Caldentey from Barcelona and goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar from Aston Villa over the summer. Although Caldentey missed the first game and Van Domselaar was ruled out through injury, the trio spent valuable time in D.C. building relationships with their new teammates and staff, both on and off the field. Trips to explore the city and downtime together as a team were crucial.

Leaving a legacy

For defender Lotte Wubben-Moy, who played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels, the trip to the United States was about more than just football. It was an opportunity to create a lasting impact and elevate the local community, to inspire the next generation, and leave a meaningful footprint.

"Definitely looking at the influence that football and Arsenal can have as a whole," she tells ESPN. "We want to act the class wherever we go, and this trip can be an example of that and leave a legacy in a small way. Rather than just thinking of it as a legacy more so looking to the future and actually what it can bring in time to come, which I think is one of the most important things for us as female footballers."

One of the highlights for Wubben-Moy was the community event that showcased Arsenal's commitment to making a difference beyond the pitch. The event featured an open training session for over 500 fans, followed by a special coaching session for Bancroft Elementary children, led by manager Eidevall and Arsenal's coaching staff. Wubben-Moy, Emily Fox, and Russo then took part in a poetry workshop with the children.

USWNT defender Fox, who grew up in nearby Virginia, praised Wubben-Moy's community work in England, where the 25-year-old combines football and arts with local kids through Arsenal in the Community.

"We were able to meet about 20 young kids, they call them poet athletes, and the session was led by an alumni from D.C. scores, which was extremely special," she tells ESPN. "She [Wubben-Moy] read a poem and spoke with such eloquence and even that transferred onto the kids who got up and read their poems."

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