U.S. women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski knows there is probably a lot of criticism of his coaching at this World Cup — he’s just trying to ignore all of it.
The USWNT is off to a stuttering start at the tournament, beating Vietnam 3-0 in a game it was expected to win by more and then only managing a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands.
Most concerning for Andonovski’s critics was his decision to use only one of his five available subs in the Netherlands match.
The two results have left the USWNT facing a vital Group E finale against Portugal on Tuesday. A loss would almost certainly see the two-time defending champions eliminated at the group stage, while a draw would likely only be good enough for second place and a more difficult path in the knockout round.
With the U.S. level on points with the Netherlands and carrying a two-goal advantage on goal difference, even a narrow win over Portugal may not be enough for first place if the Dutch beat Vietnam by enough goals.
With more pressure on the group-stage finale than he was likely hoping for, Andonovski told a pre-match press conference he’s taking everything in stride.
“I don’t know how it is with the other coaches and the other national teams, but the moment I sat in this chair in 2019 is when the pressure started,” Andonovski said. “It’s not like this is something new. I knew this was how it was going to be and I know what the expectations are.
“The only thing that changed from 2019 to now is I just learned how to turn the pressure into excitement. I came into this World Cup not thinking, ‘Oh my gosh’ — it’s actually, ‘We’re having a chance to compete for a title.'”
Andonovski said that he’s managed to form a bubble during the World Cup, trying to cordon himself off from any outside noise.
“One thing that I do is I don’t have any social media, I don’t read anything,” Andonovski said.
“Our press officer is my main source of information. … He has been very good to me in selecting the things that I need to know and selecting things that I don’t need to know. Because I’m pretty sure that if I knew everything outside of our bubble, I wouldn’t be smiling right now.”
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