Two weeks have passed since the USWNT was upset in the Round of 16 of the World Cup by Sweden, the worst performance by the American team in program history.
In the aftermath of that result, head coach Vlatko Andonovski stepped down, saying in a statement put out by U.S. Soccer that “it’s been the honor of my life to coach the talented, hard-working players of the USWNT for the past four years. I’m very optimistic for the future of this program, especially considering all the young players that got opportunities over the past few years who will no doubt be leaders and impact players moving forward.
“While we are all disappointed by the outcome at this year’s World Cup, I am immensely proud of the progress this team has made, the support they’ve shown for each other, and the inspiration they’ve provided for players around the world. I will be forever thankful to the U.S. Soccer Federation for giving me the chance to coach this remarkable team.”
Andonovski may be gone but criticisms of him haven’t gone away just yet. The coach was critiqued often during the World Cup for the team’s struggles, with observers often pointing to the formation Andonovski had the team play in — a 4-3-3 setup.
In the USWNT loss to Sweden, the Americans played in more of a 4-2-3-1 formation and had arguably their best performance of the World Cup, before falling short in penalty kicks.
On the latest edition of the The RE-CAP Show — hosted by former USWNT members Tobin Heath and Christen Press — U.S. captain Lindsey Horan revealed that that adjustment was actually player driven.
“The game against Sweden, I don’t think we were necessarily set up to play the way that we played,” Horan said. “That was just us finally coming together and being like, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And then it worked and then it’s like, ‘OK, keep doing it.’ Could that have happened earlier (in the World Cup)? Maybe. It’s a really tough one.”
Horan spoke at length about regrets she may or may not have from the World Cup, reflecting on the USWNT’s performance, and she held herself to a high standard.
“I made it a point to help Soph(ia) Smith as much as possible in this tournament because I think she has a lot of pressure on her back,” Horan said. “I want to make sure she’s in a good place and some of the younger players are in a really good place, because they’re going to have massive roles. And so it was like, could I have done more to help those players? Because I don’t think we got the absolute best out of some of them because of the way that we were set up, and some of the things that we did in the game.”
Horan noted that she hasn’t stopped thinking about the U.S.’s ouster since it happened and places the Americans’ early exit largely on how the team was set up to play.
“I (have been) killing myself for the last two weeks,” she said. “Like what the heck could I have done to help or to push our playing style or to push this bravery? And at the end of the day, it’s like you’re set up in a structure to do this. And here’s your opportunity individually, like just go play within the structure.”