The U.S. women’s national team plays its first top-tier opponent of 2023 Thursday, but they’ll be doing so without numerous big names.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday ahead of their SheBelieves Cup opener against Canada, USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski acknowledged as much, but he feels that the team’s proverbial glass is still half-full.
“This is not something that we wanted to see, where several players that are in fight for this final roster that are not in this SheBelieves [Cup] camp, which we were hoping to see a lot of them back,” said Andonovski. “But that’s part of the game, unfortunately. Injuries happen, and we’re just going to have to deal with it.”
The USWNT is without Catarina Macario until at least April, and 2022 NWSL MVP Sophia Smith remains out with a foot injury. Megan Rapinoe just returned to the squad after missing January’s trip to New Zealand, and Tierna Davidson is back in camp (albeit in a training-only role for the time being as she completes her recovery from a torn ACL suffered last year).
The list goes on and on: Christen Press, Tobin Heath, Kelley O’Hara, and Casey Krueger were all name-checked by Andonovski during his media availability, and the coach ended his remarks with a note that Rose Lavelle would miss the Canada match with an unspecified knock suffered in training.
While Andonovski says the USWNT expects her to be available for the other two SheBelieves Cup matches against Japan and Brazil, it just underlines a long-standing problem: he hasn’t really had many chances to field his very best lineup.
Andonovski said that while he has such a long list of players vying for a World Cup roster spot that he’d rather not try to name them all and accidentally forgot one, there are benefits to the situation.
“To some degree, maybe it is better,” explained Andonovski. “We still haven’t shown our cards. Because you’re looking at, in every game you watch, you look at the starting 11, you feel like ‘oh, I wish so-and-so was here too.’ Maybe by the World Cup, we are going to have everyone that we feel like is gonna give us the best chance to win, to be [in the squad], and then show our cards.”
Midfield details emerge
The USWNT’s midfield remains an ongoing point of discussion. A recent move towards looking at the team out of a 4-2-3-1 formation seems an acknowledgement of how to get the best out the central midfielders available.
That adjustment began in November’s 2-1 win over Germany, and carried on into the USWNT’s two wins over New Zealand last month. The shift is straightforward: the team’s deepest-lying midfielder — largely Andi Sullivan over the past couple of years — isn’t left isolated in transition, and their No. 10 (Lavelle or, most likely against Canada, Ashley Sanchez) has more freedom to push higher and become a second goal threat.
Another change in that zone has gotten USWNT fans talking, with San Diego Wave midfielder Taylor Kornieck telling reporters last week that during this window, she’s being looked at as another option for the No. 6 role.
Taylor Kornieck up first on today's #USWNT presser, & tells @thegoalkeeper that she is in fact working in this camp as a 6. Adds that Vlatko & Andi Sullivan have both been helping her on some specifics.
— Jason Anderson (@JasonDCsoccer) February 8, 2023
Kornieck has largely spent her professional career in a box-to-box role or functioning as an unorthodox sort of No. 10, but the USWNT’s depth when it comes to midfield anchors has been limited. Sam Coffey received call-ups in the back half of 2022, and Jaelin Howell has been in the mix during Andonovski’s tenure, but neither are in camp.
The USWNT manager detailed some of the specifics of how he’d like to deploy Kornieck in a role that she hasn’t had much experience in.
“We watched the [San Diego] games when Taylor played as a [No. 6], and we watched her play, the only game she played as a [lone] six, I think it was in [2022] Challenge Cup, against Portland, away,” said Andonovski, who added that he agreed with Wave head coach Casey Stoney that deploying the towering midfielder at the base of a midfield triangle isn’t the best use of her skills.
“I do agree that her best role as a six is if she has [freedom] to be an [No. 8],” explained Andonovski. “In order for us to do that, so if we see Taylor on the on the field as a six, that most likely will be with another, [a] double-six.”
In other words, Andonovski sees Kornieck as a player that still needs to have some freedom to leave her post, either to join the attack or to rove around in a ball-winning role. The team’s old 4-3-3 formation simply didn’t allow for that sort of improvisation at the position, but with the right type of player alongside Kornieck, Andnovski says he can see it working in the 4-2-3-1 that seems to be taking hold.
Interestingly though, Andonovski said he doesn’t think it’s very likely that that other player will be Sullivan.
“I feel confident in the abilities of both players, but I just, as of right now, I don’t know if we can see both of them on the field [at the] same time,” said Andonovski. “We will see different combinations of midfielders on the field, different types in different times of [this] tournament.”
The fourth-year USWNT boss stopped short of ruling the idea out entirely, adding that if “it would help us be successful if we have Kornieck and Andi in the same time on the field, then we may try that as well,” but it sounds like a look that isn’t in the cards for the matches against Canada, Japan, or Brazil.
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