The U.S. ladies’s nationwide soccer staff’s 2-0 loss to Mexico on Monday felt all too acquainted. After a pair of encouraging matches that noticed interim coach Twila Kilgore deploy a younger, energetic lineup in additional experimental formations to start out the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, the People rewound the clock to final 12 months, after they have been caught in a cycle of inflexible predictability that led to their worst World Cup end.
Monday’s loss to Mexico felt so much like that World Cup group stage finale on Aug. 1 towards Portugal, half a world away in Auckland, New Zealand. As a defective hearth alarm brought on gentle panic and confusion within the stands that day, the People slogged by way of a scoreless draw with Portugal that laid naked all of the instant risks that their preparations had portended. The U.S. in the end wanted the assistance of the put up in second-half stoppage time to keep away from a bunch stage exit that day.
The stakes have been a lot decrease for the USWNT on Monday, with their place within the Concacaf W Gold Cup knockout stage already booked, however the efficiency towards Mexico was equally regarding. Right here was the return of a U.S. staff that, challenged with a powerful tactical plan executed by technically gifted gamers, couldn’t remedy strain in actual time.
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It was a well-known U.S. staff, too — eight of the 11 starters towards Mexico took half within the 2023 World Cup, with most of them incomes vital minutes. The People’ tactical form additionally usually mirrored the 4-3-3 formation seen final 12 months (with loads of nuanced tweaks), quickly turning away from the aggressive three-back system that Kilgore not too long ago explored with a brand new group of younger gamers.
Mexico regarded and sounded so much like Portugal on Monday. El Tri gamers knew they would want to place of their finest efficiency and by no means entertained the thought of dropping, in keeping with Mexico coach Pedro Lopez. He seemed like Portugal coach Francisco Neto seven months earlier, solely Lopez may enjoyment of a mission achieved fairly than the heartbreak of slim elimination from the World Cup group stage.
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Earlier than the sport, Lopez described a hungry Mexico staff as a “wolf in sheep’s clothes.” By “leaping out of their form,” as Kilgore described it, Mexico made the U.S. appear to be the sheepish underdog. After his facet received, Lopez concluded: “We now have seen that wolf.”
Mexico’s ahead line of MarÃa Sánchez, Kiana Palacios and Lizbeth Ovalle pressured sloppy, hurried passes out of an skilled U.S. again line — three of the 4 beginning defenders have been additionally starters in the identical positions when the USWNT received the 2019 World Cup. With no buildup play on the bottom or by way of midfield, the People performed lengthy, and Mexico made almost twice as many interceptions whereas additionally matching the People in duels received, per TruMedia.
“I feel the sport is about moments,” Kilgore mentioned. “And if we have a look at these moments the place for those who take [Mexico’s first] aim for instance, it is a microcosm for the sport as a result of a staff [scored] from a defensive aim kick for us, which is one thing that we usually delight ourselves on, and we did not win the primary ball, did not win the second ball after which did not execute.”
What’s essential from a U.S. perspective is that that is not about Mexico or Portugal, particularly. It’s not a few scoreless draw with the Czech Republic two years in the past, or a depressing three-game dropping streak by the hands of England, Spain and Germany to finish 2022. The pattern is now clear: The USWNT’s issues are deeper-rooted than any particular person opponent and are an indictment of an American participant pool missing creativity and problem-solving abilities, simply because the failures of the World Cup uncovered.
Monday marked Mexico’s second time beating the USWNT in 43 all-time conferences, the kind of numbers that carry in regards to the cliché narrative that the world is catching up. But such a view is outdated; the world caught up a very long time in the past.
Simply have a look at the grueling path the USWNT took to win the 2019 World Cup, when the opposite seven quarterfinalists hailed from Europe. 4 years later, Spain received its first World Cup whereas the U.S. went residence simply because the knockout stage started after pedestrian performances over 4 video games. Within the time between 2019 and 2023, the USWNT regressed by the use of standing nonetheless, grinding out an unconvincing bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics.
After the Olympics in 2021, then-coach Vlatko Andonovski tried a roster overhaul stricken by accidents and received Concacaf’s qualifying event for the World Cup and Olympics. A strong victory over Canada within the closing papered over apparent issues from earlier in that event, together with a younger, athletic Haiti staff that made the U.S. again line look caught in quicksand. The distinction between Haiti on that night time — or Argentina final Friday — and Mexico on Monday is that El Tri struck first and did not give the U.S. a window to punch again.
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Salazar: USWNT loss to Mexico is ‘very regarding’
Sebastian Salazar joins “SportsCenter” to interrupt down what the U.S. ladies’s nationwide staff’s loss to Mexico within the Gold Cup means for its future.
This U.S. staff badly wants a brand new course and a reassessment of how the squad must be constructed — as such, the deliberate arrival of incoming supervisor Emma Hayes can not come quickly sufficient. Judging by Monday’s efficiency, it appears unlikely that Hayes alone can overhaul this U.S. staff in time to win an Olympic gold medal. The U.S. ladies stay in an identification disaster, caught between a mere renovation and an entire teardown.
The group stage of this Concacaf W Gold Cup was time to search out out what may work, and certainly, the fluid formations that made youngsters the focus within the opening two video games achieved that — to a level. Personnel modifications towards Mexico have been partly influenced by a three-day turnaround between group stage video games — Kilgore mentioned she needed to see how gamers dealt with the cadence of a event that mimics the Olympics schedule. However reverting to outdated habits towards Mexico was a step backward, solely highlighting the work forward.
Kilgore was appropriate in her postgame evaluation that there are “no straightforward video games” anymore and the Mexican staff, with its particular person expertise and steerage from Lopez, is not any pushover. El Tri’s capability to defeat the U.S. is a testomony to how aggressive the worldwide sport is now.
Hayes was employed with the USWNT’s long-term future in thoughts. Neither she nor U.S. Soccer would publicly admit it, however her agreed-upon late-Might arrival solely works if the federation is not prioritizing the brief time period of the Olympics as a lot as the long run of the 2027 World Cup. Fixing every part in time for this summer time’s Olympics — within the period of time Hayes can have — might be an order too tall even for probably the greatest coaches on the planet, and U.S. Soccer certainly is aware of that.
Hayes brings the right combination of deep familiarity with the U.S. participant pool — and, as her current feedback earlier than being employed counsel, a deep consciousness of its shortcomings. The People want a no-nonsense outsider who will are available in and rip up the playbook of long-standing standard knowledge.
Indicators of the latter have been there even earlier than Hayes’ precise arrival. Previous to Monday, there was renewed optimism about this U.S. youth motion, and that shouldn’t be forgotten due to the loss to Mexico. Olivia Moultrie, the 18-year-old midfielder, regarded prepared for extra accountability in her two-goal efficiency towards Dominican Republic, and 19-year-old Jaedyn Shaw met the second once more, as she has so many instances already within the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League, with a brace and dazzling efficiency towards Argentina.
Hayes’ thirst for inventive options ought to result in plans that revolve round Shaw, amongst others. Catarina Macario, who Hayes is aware of properly from recruiting her to Chelsea, is lastly nearing her return after two years on the sideline recovering from a torn ACL. Macario was imagined to be the brand new attacking point of interest for the USWNT earlier than her harm in 2022. Mallory Swanson regarded like probably the greatest forwards on the planet earlier than her knee harm final 12 months, and she or he too may quickly return to the sphere.
One of many extra instant conundrums that must be solved by Hayes and Kilgore is the dichotomy between the person expertise on this U.S. participant pool and its flat performances as a collective. Monday’s USWNT lineup did not lack particular person high quality, nor did any lineup rolled out on the 2023 World Cup, however the USWNT squad has repeatedly regarded lower than the sum of its components.
Simply as we noticed on the World Cup, the USWNT on Monday regarded like a staff the place gifted people had little to no reference to one another. The ahead line led by Sophia Smith within the No. 9 function, flanked by Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams, performed in siloes. In midfield, Rose Lavelle and Lindsey Horan both occupied redundant area or have been successfully reduce off from the stream of play by Mexico, which took the unconventional strategy of getting center-back Rebeca Bernal floating ahead like a false No. 6 to jam up passing lanes.
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How is it that such supremely gifted people, who’ve confirmed their skills in arguably the very best league on the planet, the NWSL, can not appear to discover a modicum of chemistry in high-pressure worldwide settings? Teaching isn’t the entire reply. Andonovski took a lot of the warmth for the USWNT’s poor 2023 — he deserved his share of the blame for sticking with what wasn’t working for too lengthy, however gamers provided no options to the issues in entrance of them inside video games. Even the very best tactical plan or personnel modifications would have failed on the World Cup based mostly on the USWNT pool’s lack of ability to resolve advanced strain.
That lack of creativity Hayes has lamented, and the dearth of chemistry so clearly on show, have come again to chew the USWNT too ceaselessly in recent times.
Monday’s stumble towards Mexico means the U.S. will face Colombia within the Gold Cup quarterfinals, which can see groups uniquely reseeded based mostly on their factors accrued (and tiebreakers) fairly than predetermined matchups based mostly on group finishes. Among the many 12 groups on the Gold Cup, Colombia secured the very best end on the 2023 World Cup with a quarterfinal look. The South American visitor staff at this event profiles equally to Mexico in that it has the tactical nous to regulate the sport and particular person aptitude to capitalize on key moments.
Till Monday, the U.S. ladies had not misplaced a sport in a Concacaf competitors in over 13 years, one other stunning loss to Mexico at World Cup qualifying in Cancun in 2010. That defeat 14 years in the past within the semifinals of the competitors represents the one time the American ladies haven’t received an official Concacaf competitors during which they’ve competed, 15 in whole. Now, they’re gazing a potential quarterfinal exit on residence soil if they cannot produce a vastly higher efficiency than they did on Monday.
If that occurs, it is going to set off additional alarms, however very like that August night time in Auckland, the People have tried to play by way of these warnings for a very long time. Rebounding to win this event would restore a crumb of confidence, however extra essential is that they present some chemistry and course. Discovering these qualities has been a stop-start course of over current months, one which requires extra persistence than the fan base may need after a long time of unprecedented success.
Change is tough, however sooner or later, it should really feel just like the U.S. staff is really shifting ahead.
