The United States came into the Women’s World Cup as favourites to retain their title but performances so far suggest Vlatko Andonovski’s side might not be the dominant force of old.
The US are the long-time superpower of women’s international football and in Australia and New Zealand are aiming for an unprecedented third World Cup crown in a row.
They started with a 3-0 win over debutants Vietnam but failed to sparkle against a team they were widely expected to beat convincingly.
In contrast, they annihilated Thailand 13-0 four years ago at the same stage.
Then on Thursday the Americans had to come from behind to draw 1-1 with the Netherlands, the stalemate ending a run of 13 consecutive World Cup wins for the US.
A draw against debutants Portugal on Tuesday will be enough to reach the knockouts, and while it would be a massive shock if they did lose, suddenly they do not quite look the team they were.
Andonovski keeps stressing this is a new USA team.
Their starting line-up for their first two matches has featured just four players who also started the 2019 final, when they defeated the Netherlands 2-0.
Andonovski, who replaced Jill Ellis shortly after the 2019 triumph, insists the best is still to come.
“This team is not just young, this is a fresh team that hasn’t spent a lot of minutes together,” he said after the world’s top-ranked side fought back from going behind to Jill Roord’s first-half opener against the Dutch.
“And what you saw in the second half is what you are going to see going forward as a baseline.
“I think we are just going to get better from game to game and we are going to be a lot more efficient as well.”
Time for changes?
While a draw against Portugal will be enough to reach the last 16, the Americans will want to win and by a sizeable margin to secure first place in Group E.
Failure to finish first could expose the USA to a tougher draw in the next round.
There were signs four years ago that the tide in women’s football was changing, with Europe providing seven of the eight quarter-finalists at the 2019 World Cup.
The women’s game in Europe is improving all the time and Thursday’s match will surely have given encouragement to the main challengers to the holders, notably England, Germany and Spain.
“I wish I could say we are going to come out and dominate every game because that is what we want to do,” said Andonovski.
“But we are playing good opponents. The Netherlands are a good team. It is not like they are going to stand there and allow us to do what we want to do.”
The question now is whether he makes changes, with Rose Lavelle a contender to start after changing the game off the bench against the Netherlands.
Brought on at half-time for Savannah DeMelo, Lavelle set up Lindsey Horan’s equaliser with a wicked corner-kick delivery.
There will now be a clamour for Lavelle, who scored in the 2019 final, to start. Her coach though is wary of asking too much from a player who struggled with injury before the World Cup.
“If we started her in the first half we would probably have to take her out at half-time,” said Andonovski.
Andonovski indicated he intends to keep faith in his front three of Alex Morgan and World Cup newcomers Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith.
“I think that the more time they spend together, the better they are going to get. I am very happy with how they interact together and play off each other on the field,” Andonovski said.
The likes of Lynn Williams and veteran Megan Rapinoe are waiting in the wings, and the USA’s rivals are watching closely.
