This summer was filled with happiness and adrenaline as the women's national teams for soccer headed to the World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. There were a total of 64 matches played between 32 teams, a new number than previous years.
Going into the World Cup, other teams practically knew the USWNT was their biggest competition, as they are the number 1 national team. However, despite their ranking, the USWNT was all over the place. The reason being was because of their American-Macedonian coach, Vlatko Andonovski.
From the beginning of his career as the USWNT coach, he failed to fulfill his duties as a coach. The former USWNT coach, Jill Ellis, led the USWNT to two World Cup titles and many other championships. Vlatko could not even get one title for his team, and even though the players play a crucial role in the games, he still wasn’t playing his best players to help them win.
The World Cup only comes every 4 years, and it is the biggest tournament for every qualifying national team, and it is very disappointing when a team doesn’t make it. For the first time ever in USWNT history, they didn’t get past the round of 16. They played a total of 4 matches and crashed out of the World Cup, losing 5-4 in penalties to Sweden.
From the beginning of the tournament, people knew they weren't playing how they used to. Andonovski only played younger/newer players and “star players” such as Alex Morgan, and they did not work well together. He refused to sub players from the field to the bench, and his players were restless; Rodman missed 3 of her 4 shots, Smith was slowing down, and he still would not switch them out.
Players that are very crucial to the team's performance, such as Rose Lavelle, Kelley O'hara, and Megan Rapinoe barely had any game time. For Rapinoe, this was her last World Cup, and it was super disappointing for fans to see the best team lose and barely see amazing players be able to have time to play in this World Cup.
Carli Lloyd, a former USWNT player had much criticism to say about how they were performing, as well as all of the other commentators. Everyone knows they are the best, and they got disqualified for the first time ever in the round of 16.
Since the end of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Vlatko Andonovski has resigned from the position and an interim coach has been appointed.
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