The coach took over as US coach last year following a glorious stint at Chelsea and has already led the team to an Olympic gold medal - although she is keen to leave a legacy both on and off the pitch.

Hayes told ESPN's Futbol W: "I plan to do more than just win with this team.

"Like, that's not who I am. I'm a builder and I want to put in place a robust programme with the right support so that hopefully the US can always compete beyond my tenure but also set the bar for the global game off the field. That's one of my big goals."

Following her successful start to the job, Hayes explained that she has spent time in the last few months mapping out the big picture of the post.

She said: "I've sort of had to zoom out and reflect and say, 'Listen, last year was extremely intense'.

"Like that's unusual to go from a club situation into a national team. But in the last six months I've really tried to stay zoomed out and say, 'Okay well, what gaps can we close in certain areas?'

"And one of those is that is developing more programme opportunities, particularly at the under-23 level, as I really feel there's like a lost generation that didn't get a lot of cap-opportunities because they went from [under] 20s ... and if they didn't make the seniors, there weren't a lot of opportunities there. And I actually learned the other day that in the US there are less U23s playing domestically and internationally in terms of experience than a lot of top nations.

"So we've got to close the gap ... whether that's encouraging the players to keep pushing to play wherever they are, but also internationally create an U23 programme so we can start to give them international experiences prior to them coming to the senior level. And of course, some may go from [under]20s to seniors, but I really feel there's a missing gap that we've got to get right. And we've certainly addressed that and we are aiming to [start that] program from April."