Lindsey Horan has aimed some thinly veiled criticism at former U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski and his staff, saying that part of the team’s World Cup failure came down to them not being set up to succeed.
The USWNT crashed out in the round of 16 for its worst World Cup finish ever, winning just one of four games at the tournament.
Andonovski stepped down last week in the aftermath of the World Cup, which followed a disappointing bronze medal finish at the Olympics in 2021 in his first major tournament as USWNT coach.
The coach was heavily criticized at the World Cup over various issues, but one of the common themes was the USWNT’s problems playing out of a 4-3-3 setup that saw them struggle to connect passing sequences.
The USWNT’s best performance of the tournament came in the round of 16 against Sweden, which saw the team switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation that resulted in much more control of the game. Ultimately, the U.S. couldn’t find the net and was eliminated on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Appearing on The RE-CAP Show with ex-USWNT teammates Tobin Heath and Christen Press, USWNT captain Horan hinted that the changes for the Sweden game came from the players themselves — not the coaching staff.
“The game against Sweden, I don’t think we were necessarily set up to play the way that we played,” Horan said. “That was just us finally coming together and being like, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And then it worked and then it’s like, ‘OK, keep doing it.’ Could that have happened earlier? Maybe. It’s a really tough one.”
Horan said in her role as captain, she tried to help out some of the younger players the USWNT needed to rely on in the tournament, including Sophia Smith.
After a double to open the tournament against Vietnam, Smith didn’t score in the team’s final three games. According to Horan, the reason Smith and some of the USWNT’s other young stars didn’t perform up to expectations was the way they were set up by the coaching staff.
“I made it a point to help Soph Smith as much as possible in this tournament because I think she has a lot of pressure on her back,” Horan said. “I want to make sure she’s in a good place and some of the younger players are in a really good place, because they’re going to have massive roles. And so it was like, could I have done more to help those players? Because I don’t think we got the absolute best out of some of them because of the way that we were set up, and some of the things that we did in the game.”
Horan added: “I [have been] killing myself for the last two weeks. Like what the heck could I have done to help or to push our playing style or to push this bravery? And at the end of the day, it’s like you’re set up in a structure to do this. And here’s your opportunity individually, like just go play within the structure.”
[lawrence-related id=26352,26340,26061]