Sports activities Information
U.S. ladies’s nationwide group coach Vlatko Andonovski has resigned, an individual aware of the choice instructed The Related Press on Wednesday.
The transfer comes lower than two weeks after the People have been knocked out of the Ladies’s World Cup sooner than ever earlier than.
The individual spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity as a result of the transfer had not been formally introduced. An announcement was anticipated Thursday.
The four-time event champions struggled all through the World Cup. A victory over Vietnam to kick off the group stage was adopted by a pair of attracts in opposition to Netherlands and Portugal — barely sufficient to get the group into the knockout stage,
The People performed effectively within the Spherical of 16 in opposition to Sweden, however in the end fell on penalties after a scoreless tie. The U.S. scored simply 4 objectives over the course of the event.
The USA had by no means completed worse that third on the World Cup.
The 46-year-old Andonovski was named coach of the USA in October 2019, taking on for Jill Ellis, who led the USA to back-to-back World Cup titles. He completed 51-5-9 throughout his time with the group, and was 3-2-5 in main tournaments.
Following the match in opposition to Sweden, Andonovski stated he wasn’t excited about his future with the group — solely his younger gamers. Fourteen gamers on the U.S. roster have been showing of their first World Cup, and 12 of them had by no means performed in a significant event.
“We spent 4 years collectively. They acquired their first caps with me, they acquired their first national-team call-ups with me,” Andonovski stated. “We spent robust occasions, good occasions. I don’t need to see them like that. That’s all I take into consideration.”
It wasn’t simply the World Cup that harm Andonovski’s possibilities of maintaining his job. The USA additionally completed with a disappointing bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics.
Following the Olympics, Andonovski turned his consideration on growing younger gamers forward of the World Cup. A few of the gamers who emerged have been Sophia Smith, final 12 months’s U.S. Soccer Participant of the Yr, and Trinity Rodman.
The USA was bitten by accidents within the run-up to the event, shedding a pair of key gamers. Mallory Swanson injured her knee throughout a pleasant in April, and captain Becky Sauerbrunn couldn’t get better from a foot harm in time.
Promising younger ahead Catarina Macario tore her ACL taking part in for her membership group Lyon final 12 months and in addition wasn’t able to play within the World Cup.
The World Cup was difficult for a lot of elite groups due to the ever-growing parity within the ladies’s sport. Germany, Brazil and Canada, the winners in Tokyo, additionally acquired knocked out early. Sunday’s ultimate between England and Spain in Sydney will give the event a first-time winner.
Andonovski was head coach of Seattle’s OL Reign within the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League when he was employed. Throughout his seven years within the NWSL, he led the now-defunct FC Kansas Metropolis from the league’s inception in 2013 till the membership folded in 2017, successful two league titles with the group.
Andonovski, a local of Skopje, Macedonia, performed for a number of groups in Europe earlier than embarking on an expert indoor soccer profession in the USA.
His predecessor on the U.S. group, Ellis, was named coach of the group in 2014 and led the U.S. to eight general event titles, together with victories on the World Cup in 2015 and 2019. Over the course of her tenure, the USA misplaced simply seven matches.
Now the method will begin to discover a substitute, and the timeline is comparatively quick. The USA has already certified for the 2024 Olympics in France.
Earlier than that, the group has a pair of exhibition matches in opposition to South Africa on Sept. 21 in Cincinnati and Sept. 24 in Chicago.