The USWNT finally played like themselves, but soccer can be cruel
Soccer has always been a cruel sport, and today it came calling for the U.S. women’s national team.
After three underwhelming performances in the group stage, the USWNT finally looked like themselves against Sweden, bossing one of the best teams in this World Cup.
Unfortunately, they found goalkeeper Zećira Mušović having one of the games of her life, and when she wasn’t making a big save, the errant finishing that has plagued this team appeared again, and the result was a penalty kick elimination after a scoreless 120 minutes.
It was a heartbreaker for the U.S., who missed a shot in the shootout that would have seen them advance, and then had to watch Sweden’s winning kick require a VAR check to reveal that the ball had crossed the line by a nearly imperceptible margin.
Still, when it comes to ratings, this was by some margin the best performance from the USWNT at this World Cup as a team, and for many players as individuals.
As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:
Our scale:
1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
6: Adequate. This is our base score.
10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.
The U.S. women’s national team, by a margin of about three inches, survived a feisty Portugal side to get through to the knockout round of the World Cup.
That’s about all the good news there is to discuss. The USWNT were totally unable to solve the Portuguese midfield diamond throughout a troubling 0-0 draw, struggling for possession and also lacking chances to break out in transition.
The stats may show the USWNT holding a 17-6 shot advantage, and this is another game in which a U.S. opponent were held without a shot on goal. However, anyone that watched the match would be able to tell you that the Portuguese troubled the U.S. from start to finish, seeing the game’s best chance end with Ana Capeta hitting the post deep in stoppage time.
It was a dispiriting and disappointing showing in which no player really looked like they’d been given a platform to be their best. If the USWNT is to go on and make history as the first team to win three consecutive World Cups, this has to be by far their worst performance of the tournament.
Here’s a breakdown from a game in which no one looked particularly good.
As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:
Our scale:
1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
6: Adequate. This is our base score.
10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.
A good start and finish sandwiched some worrying stuff for the USWNT
The U.S. women’s national team was far from its best against the Netherlands, struggling for a long spell in the middle of the match before recovering for a 1-1 draw.
Jill Roord’s goal on the first shot conceded all tournament by the USWNT deflated the group, and until Dutch star Daniëlle van de Donk clattered into club teammate Lindsey Horan, it was starting to get hard to see a way back in for the favored Americans.
However, Horan — after a fairly heated argument with van de Donk in the seconds that followed — powered home a header, and the U.S. took the game over for the final half-hour.
The good news? Those final minutes were the “real” USWNT. The bad news? They arrived for a reason the team can’t control, and since a winner didn’t arrive (nor did any substitutions after Rose Lavelle’s entry at halftime), the flaws on the day aren’t going to be papered over by three points.
With all that in mind, let’s dig into who delivered, and who didn’t.
As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:
Our scale:
1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
6: Adequate. This is our base score.
10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.
Smith was at the center of most of the USWNT’s best in their win
It may not have been the blowout some expected, but the U.S. women’s national team started the World Cup off with a 3-0 win over Vietnam.
A first-half brace from Sophia Smith — one goal was clinical, the other needed a fairly hefty slice of luck — set the USWNT on their way. After some missed chances, including an Alex Morgan penalty kick that was saved by Vietnam’s Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Lindsey Horan added the third on an assist from Smith.
In the context of Vietnam’s recent results, including only falling to Germany 2-1, it’s a decent result. It’s also not the rout that fans may have thought was coming, though on another day the goals may have been flowing with just a touch more sharpness from the attacking players.
As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:
Our scale:
1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
6: Adequate. This is our base score.
10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.
A gunman in downtown killed two and wounded several others before he was also found dead
For the U.S. women’s national team, Thursday’s deadly shooting in Auckland was sadly reminiscent of so many similar events back home.
A gunman in downtown Auckland killed two and wounded several others before he was also found dead in an incident on the morning of the first two Women’s World Cup games.
The shooting took place close to the USWNT team hotel in Auckland, where they will kick off the World Cup against Vietnam on Saturday afternoon local time.
At a press conference, USWNT forward Lynn Williams said that it was difficult to reckon with the shooting while also trying to focus on preparing for the team’s opener.
“Unfortunately, I feel like in the U.S. we’ve dealt with this far too many times,” Williams said.
“But there was definitely a sense of, ‘Let’s come together, we still have a job to do,’ but also recognizing that there were lives lost and that is very real and very devastating.
“We were just thankful that we were safe, that the first responders came in and everything was very quick. Our security was very swift to say, ‘Look, we can’t go anywhere right now. We need to make sure you guys are safe first.’ There was a sense around the team that we recognize that this is devastating. And then once we were able to go to training we were like, ‘We have to focus on the job at hand.'”
U.S. Soccer released a statement shortly after the incident, saying: “All of our players and staff are accounted for and safe. Our security team is in communication with local authorities and we are proceeding with our daily schedule.”
USWNT defender Crystal Dunn added that the team is looking to support one another in any way they can.
“This is very real and our condolences are with the families of the victims and the lives that were lost,” Dunn said.
“Everyone handles these situations differently. So it’s important to give people the space that they need to work through the trauma that has occurred today, but understanding that we’re a unified team.
“We give people the space that they need and hopefully we’re able to get on the pitch and just have a kick around and just try to be connected again in a tough day.”
It may be unpopular with many fans, but it’s the best option the USWNT has right now
There are more questions surrounding the U.S. women’s national team heading into this World Cup than there have been in recent memory, but possibly the loudest concerns a player who is beloved, healthy, and set to start in a role she’s been playing for some time.
She’s widely seen as having done a great job there, but seemingly no one outside of the USWNT coaching staff wants to see Crystal Dunn playing left back. And yet, that’s exactly what just about every observer expects to see when the USWNT kicks off on Friday at Auckland’s Eden Park against Vietnam. Barring a last-second injury, you can write her name down in pen.
The discourse around how Dunn is deployed is nuanced and complicated, but there are some simple facts to establish: Dunn has played virtually every position since emerging as a big-time player for the University of North Carolina a decade ago, a situation that followed her into the pro ranks.
She won the 2015 NWSL MVP award after a blistering season as a forward (scoring 15 of the Washington Spirit’s 31 goals that season). A year later, after joining Chelsea, she spent much of her time as a wingback, an experiment that caught then-USWNT coach Jill Ellis’ eye. She won an NWSL title as an attacking midfielder with the North Carolina Courage, and at the moment, the Long Island native is having a potential NWSL Best 11 season as an attack-first two-way midfielder with the Portland Thorns.
Dunn has been open about wanting that midfield role with the national team, one that allows her to be a creative hub. Most notably, she spoke at length in a February profile in GQ about the burden that is being shuttled back and forth between two roles. There’s a soccer challenge involved there — even with the national team pushing its fullbacks up aggressively, the job is very different from her club role — as well as one that’s more personal.
No other USWNT regular in recent years has been asked to be such a radically different player when coming into the national team. Dunn and Emily Sonnett are the team’s two utility players, but Sonnett’s roles have all been defense-first.
Dunn, more than anyone else, has noticed this dichotomy. All indicators point to her, at least in practical terms, accepting the fact. Vlatko Andonovski has said that Dunn is welcome to compete as a midfielder, and Dunn has apparently never turned down the assignment. That said, it’s hard to believe that any player would feel entirely comfortable going to their national team and telling the coach that they’re only interested in playing certain positions.
Dunn’s fate heading into this World Cup was more or less sealed by Andonovski’s rather unorthodox 23-player roster. The attacking spots that Dunn is best suited for are overloaded: The USWNT squad includes three No. 10s, five wide forwards, and two No. 8s. The build of the roster has only increased the odds of something that already seemed pretty certain: like it or not, she’s going to be playing left back.
Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
A problem Dunn has run into at the USWNT level is philosophical: For essentially its entire history, the U.S. has tilted towards the idea of getting its best 10 soccer players on the field in front of its best goalkeeper, and figuring it out from there.
Talent has trumped positional specificity, and while Dunn may be the only player asked to do massively different things when toggling between club and country, she’s not the only player on this team to be converted to a new position by a U.S. coach. Sofia Huerta was a chance-generating machine of an attacking midfielder in her early NWSL years before Ellis asked her to look into becoming a right back. Kelley O’Hara, once upon a time, was a three-time All-American forward for Stanford before being pushed wide, and then back, for the USWNT. Kristie Mewis, a former No. 10, had to become a box-to-box midfielder to climb back into contention.
When it comes to Dunn, the USWNT coaching staff is trying to sort through numerous options. Would they be a stronger team if she moved into the midfield and another left back came into the team at the expense of Lindsey Horan or Rose Lavelle? Could a formation change allow Dunn to move into the midfield while still getting the best out of the rest of the group? Or, is playing her at what is probably her fourth-strongest position, and one she endures more than enjoys, best for the group?
The answer they’ve landed on is that the best team they can put together will involve four defenders (including Dunn as a fullback), three central midfielders arrayed in some kind of triangle, a center forward, and two wide attackers. Andonovski’s only real move away from 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 has been a late-game 5-4-1 that is entirely about protecting leads.
A 4-4-2 diamond would get Dunn into a dynamite midfield with Horan, Lavelle, and Andi Sullivan or Julie Ertz, but the cost for that formation change would be someone like Trinity Rodman or Lynn Williams not starting to make room for the new left back, who again would not be on Dunn’s level. The fact that Dunn is the team’s best left back while also not being a left back works against her, even as it works for the team as a whole.
Interestingly, at the club level, Dunn plays for a Portland side that approaches this problem from the opposite perspective. Olivia Moultrie, Raquel Rodríguez, Christine Sinclair, and Hina Sugita are effectively vying for one spot in the Thorns’ midfield, while head coach Mike Norris has Dunn and Sam Coffey locked into the other two places in their 4-3-3. The Thorns make the bet that playing specialists in their best positions will have enough of a cohesive effect that it makes up for whatever is lost in raw talent.
Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Both schools of thought have had a lot of success, but the USWNT has been favoring pure ability over positional fit for a very long time, and internal cultures shift slowly.
It is fair to argue that Andonovski still had time to make a shift to use Dunn in midfield, and that he was slow to react to other issues as well. It took nearly all of 2022 to open the door to using a 4-2-3-1, for example, even as it was obvious that the team was leaving too big of a gap in central midfield to slow teams down in transition. Teams will have made bigger changes than the ones being discussed here heading into the World Cup.
However, the USWNT is not, and has never really been, something that can pivot on a dime. The same internal culture that drives the iron-willed competitive spirit and intensity that is this team’s hallmark is like trust: it’s easy to break, and takes forever to rebuild.
We may never know whether Andonovski had any designs on moving towards the Portland philosophy, but the moment to begin that push passed years ago. That has left him with the same conundrum that has dogged Dunn for six years now: The player pool is overflowing with attacking midfielders, wide forwards, and central midfielders that could start for a legitimate World Cup contender.
What that pool lacks is left backs of the caliber to force Andonovski to re-think a decision Ellis made more or less out of desperation in 2017. There is no left back version of Lavelle, or Ashley Sanchez, or Savannah DeMelo, other than Dunn. It is an unfair thing to place on her shoulders, but the USWNT has for some time now been in a position where they don’t have better choices.
However, if there’s a silver lining, it’s that the team can still get Dunn into spaces where her attacking skills can be devastating to opponents. The potential for highlight-reel moments still exists.
When the U.S. faces a low block, Dunn will move high and wide, and the team’s left back can function for a spell as a wide playmaker instead. Pressing Dunn along the touchline is like trying to tackle a ghost, and her eye for a dangerous attacking pass should invite plenty of combination play to enter the box from the left.
The other approach is maybe the best of the bunch. Dunn, with Portland, absolutely thrives in the half-space, setting up in the gap where no opposing defender or midfielder has total responsibility to confront her. It’s harder to access that space as a left back, but it’s not impossible.
Dunn providing an underlap is viable with the likely USWNT lineup, thanks to a few developments. Naomi Girma’s recovery speed at left-center back helps, as does the defensive ability Rodman and/or Williams can bring to the left forward position. Finally, Andonovski’s recent willingness to use a 4-2-3-1 against stronger teams means the U.S. can keep an appropriate defensive balance in place while using Horan to draw attention, opening up space for Dunn to get forward.
None of this will solve Dunn’s internal qualms about the position change, and it won’t satisfy a fanbase that wants to see possibly the most universally adored player in this country’s soccer history playing in a position where she feels the most joy.
It is, however, the best option the USWNT has right now.
USWNT players agree that they’re “heartbroken” over Sauerbrunn’s absence
The U.S. women’s national team may be locked in on next month’s World Cup, but Becky Sauerbrunn’s absence from the roster is still weighing heavily on the group.
Sauerbrunn has battled a nagging foot injury that has persisted since late April. Facing a recovery timeline with too many variables, the USWNT captain announced last week that she would not be on a fourth straight World Cup roster.
The mood around that news understandably tempered the normal positivity surrounding the official start of a USWNT World Cup hype cycle. Sauerbrunn’s absence is clearly on the minds of everyone involved with the team.
U.S. Soccer made four players available to media on Wednesday shortly after the roster was released, and every single one of them used the word “heartbroken” when Sauerbrunn came up. The only person to not do so was head coach Vlatko Andonovski, but only because he used a different synonym.
“First, I want to say we’re all gutted for Becky,” said Andonovski in his very first words to media after the 23-player roster came out. “It’s no question that we’re gonna miss Becky. We’re gonna miss her on the field, we’re gonna miss her off the field. If there is someone that has a relationship, a connection, and someone that wanted Becky on this roster, that’s me.”
Andonovski coached Sauerbrunn for four years with FC Kansas City, winning two NWSL championships in 2014 and 2015, and like his predecessor Jill Ellis, made the defender a foundational element within the team’s structure.
“Becky will always be our captain. That’s how we feel, the staff, that’s how the team feels, that’s how everybody feels. I mean, Becky is U.S. women’s national team captain,” added Andonovski, who said he would reveal the team’s replacement captain publicly once he has a chance to gather the squad together and announce the choice internally.
USWNT ‘heartbroken’ for Sauerbrunn
Andonovski’s opinion was clearly shared by USWNT players, whether they be veterans like Crystal Dunn and Alex Morgan, or World Cup first-timers like Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith.
“Becky is not only just a huge presence on the field, and leader on the field, but she’s a person who holds people accountable. She raises the level of standards on every team she’s on,” explained Morgan, presumably one of the top candidates to captain the team in New Zealand and Australia. “Having played with her now for over 12, 13 years, I just have immense respect for her.”
“I don’t think that there’s a bad thing that has come out of a teammate’s mouth [on] Becky, ever in her career,” added Morgan. “That’s a testament to her as a leader, a person, a player, and it’s just terrible news to have right before a World Cup.”
Crystal Dunn, who plays alongside Sauerbrunn with the Portland Thorns and has spent the last few years positioned next to her on the USWNT back line, made no bones about the news being a blow to the group’s hopes this summer.
“Losing her is bigger than just her play on the field,” said Dunn. “Her ability to gather the group and really lead us in the right direction at all times, I think, is something that we are going to greatly miss.”
“I checked in with her, we’ve had a lot of communication back and forth,” added Dunn, who called Sauerbrunn “one of my really great friends.”
“You know, it hurts,” said Dunn. “She’s doing okay. The leader that she is, and she’s always thinking about the team first, and I kind of had to tell her, ‘it’s okay to think about your situation and not only care about the team at this moment.'”
Looking ahead, the USWNT’s solution to winning a third straight World Cup without such a pivotal leader is to call on one of its greatest historic strengths: a belief that the group will fill the void through collective strength and individuals stepping up.
“Not having Becky there, it’s going to be different. It’s going to be a challenge,” said Smith. “It’s going to require a lot of players to step up. I think that’s a [task] that we can accomplish if we stick together.”
“We’re ready to take on that role while she’s not there,” added a confident Naomi Girma, who will likely shift over into Sauerbrunn’s left-center back position with the veteran missing out.
For Dunn, Sauerbrunn has left the team a blueprint on how every player in the squad can take on some of the leadership burden.
“I think everything that I’ve learned from Becky is really all about just being the best player showing up possible,” said Dunn. “That means not just on the field, but that means encouraging your teammates. That means giving words of advice when you see fit, and overall, just being the best version of yourself in that environment. So that is something that I’ve always learned from Becky, and I’ll hope to try to do my best obviously in leading the group in this World Cup.”
Andonovski — who has seen so many key players miss crucial time with the USWNT for a variety of reasons — conceded that the situation is “a part of sports,” but added that the group as assembled still has his backing to go accomplish the mission at hand.
“We’re very, very confident in the team that we have,” declared Andonovski. “We’re very confident in the abilities of the players that we have on our team that will be able to overcome the deficiencies that may occur with Becky’s absence.”
The USWNT brought out some big names to reveal its 2023 World Cup roster
U.S. Soccer brought out some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment and politics to announce the 2023 U.S. women’s national team World Cup roster.
The video posted on social media began with none other than U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, and continued with each of the 23 players being introduced by a different celebrity.
Alex Morgan was given the honor of being introduced by her friend Taylor Swift, and the striker told reporters afterwards that she felt the pairing was ideal.
“I was really surprised to see Taylor announce me but all the other amazing celebrities, influencers and people so influential in the soccer world announcing the roster was pretty cool,” Morgan said. “I give U.S. Soccer props for that. I think they nailed it with Taylor announcing me. I was very happy about that. She had some really nice things to say and I feel like we’ve supported each other a lot, so it was really great to see that.”
Lil Wayne was charged with introducing Crystal Dunn, who said that it was “incredible” seeing the rap star reveal her spot on the roster.
“I will say getting that announcement from Lil Wayne was incredible,” Dunn said. “I mean, everybody was hitting my line like, ‘Do you know him? Do you know him?’ I’m like no, but listen, the man said my name already so I feel like we kind of know each other now.”
— Crystal Dunn | Soubrier | (@Cdunn19) June 21, 2023
Swift and Lil Wayne were far from the only big names in the video, which also included the likes of Megan Thee Stallion (who seems to have taken up a newfound interest in soccer), Shaquille O’Neal, Issa Rae, Blake Lively, Mia Hamm, Jalen Hurts and many more.
Watch the USWNT roster reveal video
𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄!
We asked a few friends to help with this year’s World Cup roster announcement 🤩
Get all the latest Nike gear ahead of the tournament
The United States women’s national team is eyeing up another World Cup title.
The four-time world champs are looking to defend their 2019 World Cup title, which was earned when the USWNT topped the Netherlands in the final in France.
The Thorns are guaranteed entertainment these days
If you’re a chaotic neutral and want guaranteed entertainment, your best option right now might be to just watch the next Portland Thorns game.
For the second straight week, Portland found themselves in a bonkers 3-3 draw, this time on the road against the North Carolina Courage. The Thorns trailed three times, but kept coming back thanks to an ability to conjure up spectacular goals from Crystal Dunn — who had a brace — and Olivia Moultrie.
Not to be outdone, the Courage had tremendous strikes of their own, with Kerolin and Victoria Pickett (after scintillating footwork from Olivia Wingate) getting in on the action.
“Still just trying to wrap my head around how we went down three times in the game, but we’ve come back, so [I’m] proud,” said Thorns head coach Mike Norris in his post-game press conference.
That just set the stage for the first of Portland’s many equalizing goals. The Courage stood off of Sophia Smith in space on the left in the 22nd minute, and the U.S. women’s national team star patiently waited for a window to find Dunn (playing her first full 90 minutes since becoming a mom) for a simple finish.
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 6, 2023
The assist is Smith’s fifth in six league matches; no other player in the NWSL has more than two.
Just four minutes later, the Courage offered a perfect response. Kerolin fought through a challenge with Sam Coffey, then unleashed a pinpoint long-range shot that tucked into the bottom corner.
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 6, 2023
Somehow, that wouldn’t end up being the best goal of the night. Early in the second half, the Thorns authored a glorious team goal, winning possession in the Courage’s half and stringing together 30 seconds of possession before an unreal one-touch sequence between Meghan Klingenberg, Morgan Weaver, Christine Sinclair, and Smith pried open NC’s defenses.
Klingberg ended up crossing for Dunn, who guided home her second on the night.
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 7, 2023
“I think that second goal was a collective goal,” said Dunn after the match. “Players were able to penetrate the ball, some layoffs there. Soph obviously had an amazing backheel to Kling that continued her run in. Actually the joke was, [Klingenberg] was actually about to shoot it, but I had yelled, ‘Hey, Kling, you got me in the box!’ and she was able to find me.”
A goal like that can leave any team shook, but the Courage were totally undeterred. Rookie Olivia Wingate continued her impressive start to life in the NWSL, dragging Menges wide before nutmegging the veteran to set up Victoria Pickett — who only just barely got to North Carolina after being traded by NJ/NY Gotham FC — for a clinical 70th minute finish.
What an introduction to Courage Country!
Newcomer Victoria Pickett restores North Carolina's lead, with a sweet set-up from Olivia Wingate. pic.twitter.com/RO7pOCYEFo
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 7, 2023
Somehow the saga continued, with Portland producing yet another brilliant goal. This time, it was just about all one player, with Moultrie — despite challenges from either side — curling home a 24-yard left-footed effort.
As good as the goal was, it came with some added drama, as VAR checked a possible foul from Dunn on Pickett. After a few tense seconds, the goal stood, which may have been why Courage head coach Sean Nahas jokingly started his post-game remarks with a request to not be asked about the refereeing.
🚨Olivia Moultrie banger alert🚨
Thorns tie it for the third time this match… if you're not watching on Paramount+, tune in NOW! pic.twitter.com/WDYw0cxpAR
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 7, 2023
“We knew we were going to need [resilience] coming back as the defending champs,” said Moultrie. “That’s kind of the momentum I was carrying in that moment. And yeah, then it’s just, [Natalia Kuikka] drove in and gave me a great pass, I saw the space and I was like ‘alright, I’m gonna go for it.'”
Given that mental strength, the raw entertainment value and the wildness of Portland’s last two games, and with their outstanding early-season results, it seems like they should be atop any sort of NWSL must-watch list right now.
