The United States was only tens of centimeters away from being in the first group. Urheiluin’s expert Mari Savolainen explains the reigning world champion’s problems.
A giant surprise was extremely close when Portugal teased the United States in the final match of Group E of the opening group at the World Cup on Tuesday.
Portugal came close to knocking the United States out of the playoffs when Ana Capeta reached the top spot in overtime. However, Capeta’s shot hit the post and the United States made it to the next round thanks to a 0-0 draw.
– It’s a tough place to finish second, we wanted to continue from first place, star player of the USA Alex Morgan regretted.
– The ball just doesn’t go into the goal. We had so many corners, so many chances. We were just unlucky, Morgan explained.
Sports expert Mari Savolainen is on different lines with Morgan. He sees the United States not being able to create enough chances for them to score.
According to Savolainen, the American game is currently tactically very poor and straightforward.
– Opening and construction start from the same lane where the breakout ends. Then defending is really simple. That’s why they are not able to create enough goal-scoring situations in this World Cup so that they could score goals, says Savolainen.
Savolainen also points out that the American will to win shines through its absence.
– Morgan doesn’t really have that in one-on-one playing. Sophie Smith, Lynn Williams, Trinity Rodman and Megan Rapinoe were unable to produce for their team in one-on-one situations against Portugal.
Advantage crumbled
However, US soccer’s problems are bigger. One important advantage, professionalism, has been taken away from the world champions of 2015 and 2019.
Savolainen reminds that the United States has been a pioneer for decades. It has built its own league and national team, and paid the players quite a large salary compared to other players in women’s football.
In recent years, however, women’s football has developed rapidly everywhere in the world.
– In practice, almost every player in the World Cup is a professional. That professional advantage has been taken away from them.
The United States no longer has enough
Savolainen reminds that at the same time the European leagues have developed. The opponents are tactically and physically good.
– The American way of playing, physical football and really straightforward and running football, is no longer enough in modern football.
– Now they are faced with the issue of what American tactical football is and how they play tactically smartly. How do you create tactically great soccer players? Right now they don’t have them and that’s why they don’t do well in these games.
Andonovski time
The head coach Vlatko Andonovski has been at the helm of the team since October 2019, which means he got a fresh double world champion to coach.
Before the World Cup, the United States had won 49 matches under Andonovski. It had lost five times and drawn six. Three of the losses the United States experienced last November were in practice matches against Germany, Spain and England.
Savolainen questions Andonovski’s entire time in the US national team.
– He has been there for four years, but what has he achieved. He got his hands on double world champions and the best team in the world. What has happened in four years?
The match between the USA and Portugal made New Zealand football history with a total crowd of 42,958 in the stadium. It is the highest score in a single football match of all time.
A fire alarm was also heard in the stadium at the beginning of the second half. However, it didn’t slow down either team, as they continued the match as normal. A false alarm sounds for several minutes.
You can watch the summary of the match between Portugal and the USA in the video below.