Tag: Kristie Mewis

USWNT player ratings: Defensive spine shines in gut-punch penalty kick defeat

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.

Kerr to Mewis: So proud of you — and the last time I cheer for you is today!

The couple could potentially meet in the World Cup final

Sam Kerr congratulated her girlfriend Kristie Mewis on making the U.S. women’s national team World Cup roster — and then warned her it would be the last time for a while that she’d be cheering her on.

Mewis was named to the 23-player squad on Wednesday, marking the first time in the midfielder’s career she has reached a World Cup roster.

Australia superstar Kerr and Mewis are one of the sport’s power couples, having gone public with their relationship in 2021 after Mewis was seen consoling Kerr on the pitch following the USWNT’s win over Australia in the Olympic bronze medal match.

Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

Kerr, who will be the biggest scoring threat for co-host Australia at the World Cup, posted a message on her Instagram story that read: “Soo proud of you” before adding at the bottom of the screen: “& last time I”ll cheer for you is today.”

In an interview with Gaffer last year, Kerr spoke about the awkward nature of playing in a game against her significant other.

I think there’s this part of us where we’re both separate athletes and when we compete against each other there’s this worry that people don’t think we take it seriously because you’re playing your girlfriend.

That’s what I worry about most out of anything is that our coaches or teammates don’t think that we can separate the two. Whereas the fans just support us. I hope people know that when it’s training time or play time, it doesn’t come into it. I remember one time in Newcastle (Australia) she came on, we were playing against each other, and we went in on each other. We’d kill each other. But I worry that people think that we’re not serious about our careers. At the Olympics we were so excited to see each other but I didn’t want people to think that we were just at the Olympics to see each other. I know that people don’t think that but that’s the worry.

Australia has been drawn into Group B of the World Cup, with the USWNT in Group E. With those two groups going to opposite sides of the knockout bracket, the only way Kerr could face Mewis at the World Cup would be in the final.

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Mewis: World Cup roster spot would make everything I’ve done in my life worth it

“If I don’t make this World Cup team, do I feel fulfilled in my career?”

Kristie Mewis has opened up about how badly she wants to make the U.S. women’s national team World Cup roster, saying a berth on the squad would change her life and how she views her career.

Mewis has been a regular with the USWNT in 2023, appearing in five of the team’s seven games. The Gotham FC midfielder is considered a likely bet to make the World Cup roster, but is far from a lock.

The 32-year-old played in her first major senior tournament with the USWNT in 2021, featuring in the Olympics in Japan. Should Mewis make the roster for Australia-New Zealand, it would be her first World Cup.

Appearing on the Snacks podcast, co-hosted by her younger sister Sam, Mewis admitted she has a lot riding on whether she makes Vlatko Andonovski’s 23-player squad.

“If I don’t make this World Cup team — this is so deep — but, do I feel fulfilled in my career?” she asked.

“That’s such a scary thought, being a bubble player and then I’ve also never really won anything. Yes, I won the [2020] Challenge Cup, but I’ve never won an NWSL championship. I’ve never won a college championship.

“I just feel like being named to this roster, like I everything that I’ve done my entire life will have been worth it — this is so deep, I hate it! But that’s actually how it feels to me and maybe it doesn’t seem that deep to other people.

“People who are locks [for the roster], they feel different pressure. Whereas I feel like this is actually going to change my life and change how I view my career. And that’s really hard to stomach every single day waiting for the roster to come out.”

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Jaelin Howell replaces Taylor Kornieck on USWNT roster

It’s a big chance for Howell to boost her stock

Jaelin Howell is back in the fold for the U.S. women’s national team.

Two days after missing out on the initial roster, the Racing Louisville midfielder has been called in by USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski after an ankle injury ruled Taylor Kornieck out for games against England (Friday October 7, 3:00pm ET, Fox) and Spain (Tuesday October 11, 2:30pm ET, ESPN2). Kornieck suffered the ankle injury in the final moments of San Diego Wave’s playoff-clinching 2-2 draw against the Orlando Pride last Sunday.

Howell’s last appearance with the USWNT came back in April against Uzbekistan, and though she was called up for the team’s pre-tournament camp, she did not make the final CONCACAF W Championship roster. Still, Howell has been called up more often than not since finishing her collegiate career, and is clearly still in the mix for Andonovski as the USWNT prepares for next year’s World Cup.

Midfield picture muddled

Howell’s return to the USWNT comes with the midfield arguably in more flux than the rest of the team. Sam Mewis, a presence there for years, has barely been able to play in 2022 due to a persistent knee injury. Stalwart defensive midfielder Julie Ertz hasn’t played a game in 14 months, having become a mother after the Olympics last August, and is currently without a club. Meanwhile, Andonovski has seemed impressed by Portland Thorns rookie Sam Coffey, who has been competing of late with Andi Sullivan for the starting job as the team’s No. 6.

Howell is also a defensive midfielder, but her roving, ball-winning style of play is different from Sullivan and Coffey, who tend to hold space and set a tempo. That opens the door to Howell playing further forward in a role not unlike the one Lindsey Horan plays. Deploying Howell next to an anchor midfielder would free her up to leave space and force turnovers, a situation she thrives in.

The competition in that No. 8 spot is intense. Horan looked more mobile than she has in the last 18 months during the last USWNT window, and Kristie Mewis remains a trusted option as well. Kornieck’s form cooled somewhat after the beginning of the 2022 NWSL season, but it was not surprising to see her name on the initial camp roster.

Adding to the difficulty for Howell, Andonovski has looked at deploying two true attacking midfielders at once, pairing Rose Lavelle with Ashley Sanchez multiple times in 2022. Howell’s club teammate Savannah DeMelo is also very much in the mix as a playmaker after an outstanding rookie season.

Still, for Howell, proving that she can play at the USWNT level as both a defensive midfielder and in more of a box-to-box role would boost her chances of more caps in the near future. With the World Cup less than 10 months away, these are opportunities players have to seize if they’re going to be on the USWNT’s tournament roster.

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USWNT grateful for a test in 1-0 CONCACAF W Championship win over Mexico

“We really wanted some adversity, and we got it.”

The U.S. women’s national team completed an unblemished run through the CONCACAF W Championship’s group stage, defeating a hard-working Mexico side 1-0 on a late Kristie Mewis goal.

Heading into the game, the USWNT made plenty about wanting this particular game, with a larger and louder crowd on hand to back Mexico, to be a good test of the team’s mentality. While the performance—largely untroubled at the back, but also impatient and predictable going forward—left something to be desired, the theme of the night for the team was that the test will help going forward.

“We knew that if we don’t score early in in the first quarter of the game, that the game will be difficult and we saw at the end, it became a really good atmosphere,” head coach Vlatko Andonovski explained to reporters after the game. “I was coaching a big part of the game with a smile on my face, because to some degree we want that. We wanted to see that.”

“We really wanted some adversity, and we got it,” team captain Becky Sauerbrunn told the Paramount + broadcast after the match. “It’s not very often we get to play in front of a crowd like this. They really came out to support the home (team), and so it was good. It was adversity.”

The crowd at Estadio Universitario did bring the noise, booing USWNT corner kicks and roaring Mexican attacks. While the pattern of play meant many more boos than cheers on a night where the home team was credited with just three shot attempts, Andonovski did admit that the crowd eventually threw the USWNT out of their rhythm.

“As the atmosphere was getting fired up, our team started losing the focus of the tempo. We actually had very good control of the tempo until the atmosphere started getting rattled a little bit, and then our players started starting falling into the trap,” said Andonovski.

That trap was a too-direct approach on the ball that seemed destined to see the U.S., even playing with a numerical advantage after Jacqueline Ovalle was given a 73rd minute red card, end the night with a frustrating scoreless draw against the sort of conservative tactical approach they have spent plenty of time working on breaking down.

However, a moment of inspiration from an old hand changed the game, with Megan Rapinoe’s quickly-taken short corner kick catching Mexico off guard, and eventually ending in a scramble that Kristie Mewis bundled over the line in the 89th minute.

The goal survived a VAR check after some still angles raised major questions over whether Emily Sonnett had been offside before heading on goal moments before Mewis finished the play, but for a younger group learning some old-school USWNT resourcefulness, there’s value in finally breaking through in gritty fashion.

Sauerbrunn, who has seen plenty of big USWNT wins come via that sort of scrappy play, underlined the benefit of a new group showing that trait. “I think that’s what makes the U.S. really special, is that identity of relentlessness, never say die, really will (a goal) in.”

“I was very happy to see at the end that we still found a way,” said Andonovski. “It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t nice, but in order to win big tournaments, we know that sometimes you’re just gonna have to find a way, and we were able to do that.”

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USWNT vs. Colombia in three moments (part two)

Lessons hopefully learned in Utah, so they don’t have to be learned next week at the W Championship

As Tuesday night’s U.S. women’s national team friendly against Colombia became Wednesday morning’s 2-0 win, things got weird. The goals both came from the USWNT’s right backs, a late storm delayed the game by nearly an hour, and of all people Ashley Hatch ended up in a shoving match.

Amid all of that, the USWNT faced a slightly different, more open version of Colombia than they did in Saturday’s first meeting, and the game was a tougher task. Alyssa Naeher, starting in the second game, had a few moments to worry in a way that game one starter Casey Murphy didn’t, and while the USWNT were worthy winners, it wasn’t exactly a smooth path.

That path can be summed up in three moments, so let’s dig into what we saw Tuesday night:

Tactical gambits?

Vlatko Andonovski caught Colombia out with two really interesting experiments in the first game: going with two No. 10s from halftime on by bringing Ashley Sanchez in, and a late move to try Kristie Mewis as a No. 6.

The double-ten was put out there from the start in Utah, with Lindsey Horan starting underneath Sanchez and Rose Lavelle, but while the move broke the game open as a halftime adjustment, things weren’t so easy when used from the start.

What was the difference? For one, Colombia simply wasn’t fatigued from defending for 45 minutes, and they got the chance to adjust to the rhythm the U.S. set with two attacking midfielders from kickoff rather than having to figure it out on the fly. With the Colombian line of contention higher, Sanchez and Lavelle had less room to turn and face goal.

Neither played badly, but rather than the revelatory bunker-busting look we saw in Colorado, the USWNT were not quite able to stretch Colombia enough. It was a game of “almost” for the USWNT attack, with Colombia’s center backs frequently doing just enough with their emergency defending to keep true danger at bay.

Mewis, meanwhile, was the subject of some Colombian adjustment to U.S. tactics. Namely, their central midfielders tried to lure her out of her position as the midfield anchor to open up room for counters. Mewis, a natural No. 8 who can play further forward, still has the decision-making instincts of someone who generally plays with one more midfielder staying home. She wanted to step—for good reasons, as winning the ball on a counter-press can create excellent scoring chances—but sometimes stepped into the trap Colombia set for her.

None of this is to say the USWNT should discard either of these ideas. Sanchez and Lavelle have both developed such defensive engines that they can be deployed in this 4-3-3 formation together without being an irresponsible choice. Mewis’ long-range distribution remains a weapon, and between the lack of true defensive midfield options to give Andi Sullivan a rest and the prospect of some CONCACAF teams not being as savvy as Colombia were on Tuesday, it stands to reason that she will be better in this role if it comes up again in the W Championship.

Gamesmanship test

CONCACAF has a reputation for being a real test for a favorite’s ability to withstand provocation, and the USWNT should expect teams to look to get under their skin. It’s a great way to narrow the gap in terms of talent and experience, and while U.S. fans may not enjoy it, it’s a part of the game the USWNT has to be good at.

You can’t say they were particularly good at it against Colombia, though. Obviously the memes tell the story of the late-game clash between Ashley Hatch and Jorelyn Carabalí, a situation that saw Carabalí shoulder-check Hatch after the ball was gone, shoves exchanged, and eventually Hatch pushing Carabalí away with a hand to the face.

Referee Katja Koroleva gave Hatch a yellow and had no card for Carabalí, which means she didn’t follow the Laws of the Game for either player. In the W Championship, this hands-to-the-face moment could have easily resulted in a red card for Hatch, which is the actual punishment for this infringement.

The thing is, though, that Hatch wasn’t the only player to put a hand on an opponent’s face. Taylor Kornieck did the same in the first half, trying to evade some particularly grabby marking on a corner, a play that drew no attention from the referees at all. Early in the game, ESPN’s cameras focused in on Alex Morgan looking visibly frustrated with some aggressive pre-corner kick contact as well, though to her credit, she kept her hands to herself.

These are big learning experiences for the newer USWNT players, as they’re not going to get the more collegial treatment from defenders that we see in NWSL (where opponents are your former college/YNT teammate on a pretty regular basis). Not falling for the provocation should be a key talking point within the group over the next few days.

Reset button

That aforementioned lightning delay came at a pretty good time for the USWNT, who had only a top-notch Naeher save to thank for the scoreline still being 1-0 at the time. Colombia were finding some promising counter-attacking opportunities, and though the USWNT had somewhat regained their footing from around the 70th minute, their grip on the game had still loosened in the middle portion of the second half.

The USWNT came out from the break looking like they’d sorted everything out. They came back out with a high press that completely threw Colombia off, ramping the tempo up and pinning their opponents back deep. Within around 100 seconds, they put the game to bed with a powerful Kelley O’Hara strike.

For one thing, a quick side note about our first moment: Mewis and Sanchez were a factor here, and that’s a reason for the coaching staff to continue to looking at them for more time in these roles.

But more to our point here, the USWNT wasn’t going to regain their footing in this fashion so easily had that storm cell broken up before hitting Sandy, Utah. It’s a big stretch to say Colombia were definitely going to equalize, but they had gotten a couple of corner kicks and were rounding into a threat, and that’s not what the USWNT wants when 1-0 up in the final 20 minutes of a game.

The good news here is that the break provided a chance to learn in the locker room, and put those ideas into practice soon thereafter. The bottom line? There are some important lessons in a game like this, but it’s vital for the USWNT learned them in Utah rather than still needing to learn them down in Monterrey next week.

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USWNT sees Colombia win as ‘good preparation’ for CONCACAF W Championship

The USWNT saw their friendly win as an ideal warm-up for qualifying

The U.S. women’s national team were made to work for a 3-0 win over Colombia Saturday night, overcoming some physical play and strong goalkeeping to eventually finish with a comfortable victory.

Perceptions around the USWNT mean that any 0-0 scoreline at halftime, as was the case at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, is met with a reaction from an expectant fanbase. Within the team, though, the response was to look at the situation as a positive.

“It’s not a secret that they were very much focused to not get scored on,” said head coach Vlatko Andonovski to reporters in a post-game press conference. “The main focus for us is going to be final third, different combinations, creating space and executing the opportunities that we create.”

Speaking to Fox Sports 1 following the game, Alex Morgan—making her first USWNT appearance since October 2021—said that playing Colombia’s low block was a good warm-up for the CONCACAF W Championship, where the expectation in at least the first two group stage games (against Haiti and Jamaica) is to face an opponent prepared to defend deep.

“It’s a good preparation tool for us,” said Morgan. “Them kind of having a five-back and really sitting back and kind of not allowing us to play through them, we might see that (next month), so it’s just a great game for us in preparation.”

Andonovski added that this was a good dry run for what the team will see in Monterrey in a little over a week. “That’s pretty much what we’re going to see going forward, with most of the teams that we’re gonna face in CONCACAF.”

A major story in this match was the goals that weren’t, with the USWNT seeing Catalina Pérez save penalty kicks in both halves, from Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle. Andonovski said that while he’d of course like to see those converted, he’s not too worried.

“Obviously, it’s a penalty kick, probably the best goalscoring opportunity you can have as a team,” said Andonovski. “Give credit to the goalkeeper, she did a great job, two good saves, and we’re definitely going to work on it a little bit more. We still believe that both Lindsey and Rose are very good penalty takers.” Andonovski also pointed out that at last year’s Olympics, he chose Lavelle to shoot first in the quarterfinal against the Netherlands, an attempt that successfully set the USWNT up to advance.

The USWNT coach also highlighted performances off the bench from Ashley Sanchez, Kristie Mewis, and Taylor Kornieck, who scored on her national team debut.

For Andonovski, it started with some halftime changes, including having Sanchez come in and play alongside Lavelle in a “double No. 10” arrangement. Sanchez was involved on the opening goal in combination with Lavelle, and later played the pass that resulted in Lavelle’s penalty kick after Morgan was taken down.

“I think Ashley Sanchez was one of the main reasons why we got a little more sophisticated in the second half, because she was able to eliminate players on the dribble,” explained Andonovski. “She was able to connect well with the players around her, and she also asked different questions from the defenders. (Colombia) had to adjust.”

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USWNT ‘has a plan’ in midfield heading into CONCACAF W Championship

Andonovski endorsed Sullivan, & adds that the USWNT has multiple approaches to defensive midfield

The U.S. women’s national team has begun its most important camp of 2022, with friendlies Saturday and Tuesday against Colombia as their only prep before the CONCACAF W Championship.

For the USWNT, that tournament will have major reverberations, as it serves as the qualifying process for both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The standard with the USWNT has always been “beat everybody,” but the W Championship format is unforgiving. One slip-up could cost them a place at a major international tournament.

An area of focus since Vlatko Andonovski announced his roster for the camp is the midfield, where Washington Spirit captain Andi Sullivan is the only full-time defensive midfielder in the final group of 23 the USWNT will take to Mexico for the W Championship. Andonovski has called Jaelin Howell (Racing Louisville) and Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), both of whom play the No. 6 role with their clubs, but they are at this point only available for the Colombia friendlies.

While Sullivan was indispensable as the Spirit won the NWSL championship last season, her campaign this year has been interrupted by injury. While her form has not been a problem—the Spirit are demonstrably better with her in games than on the sidelines—Sullivan has played around one-third of the available minutes in 2022 due to a calf injury.

Heading into the break, Sullivan played 60 minutes against Louisville, with Washington making a planned substitution to make sure she could continue progressing in her comeback from that knock. She has not played a full 90 minutes since a 2-2 Challenge Cup draw against the North Carolina Courage on March 30.

Speaking from Colorado ahead of Saturday’s friendly at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Andonovski said the USWNT has “a plan going forward” for the base of their midfield.

“We do have a player at (defensive midfield) that we’re very comfortable with, and we feel like is gonna be very good for us, now and in the future,” Andonovski said in endorsing Sullivan, who has been by and large his first-choice midfield anchor over the past eight months. “Andi has been tremendous in camp, performing very well and we’re excited about her.”

Still, between an exhausting NWSL schedule and a W Championship that will require finalists to play five games in 14 days at elevation, it stands to reason that Sullivan will not play 450 straight minutes as the USWNT looks to qualify.

The demands for any defensive midfielder playing solo in the USWNT’s system are very high. Andonovski’s USWNT has high-pressed teams with regularity, which for a holding midfielder means calculating risks while keeping the group connected as they pursue the ball.

That approach was emphasized in Andonovski’s remarks on Friday. “One thing that we say when we’re without the ball is, we want to minimize the opponent’s time on on the ball,” said the third-year USWNT boss when asked about the requirements his playing philosophy comes with. “We have this one saying or term that we use: we attack without the ball. So, we don’t defend for our lives. We don’t defend our goal, we attack and that’s the mentality that we have.”

A pressing style, from a physical perspective, is the most demanding and draining way to play, and with the W Championship taking place in Monterrey (average July high temperature: 94.6 degrees), multiple solutions will be needed no matter how the USWNT wants to slice it.

Andonovski was coy about exactly what his other steps would be, but did make it clear that his team has multiple ideas to deal with the situation.

“We also have players that have had chances to play that position in their club environment in the past,” said Andonovski. Of the players in this camp that are on the final 23-player squad list for the W Championship, players with professional appearances in a defensive midfield role include Lindsey Horan, Emily Sonnett, and uncapped newcomer Taylor Kornieck.

Simply plugging one of those players, all of whom are regular starters elsewhere on the field for their clubs, into the lone No. 6 spot in his customary 4-3-3 formation is not the only solution on Andonovski’s mind.

“It may not be a single six, like in the case when Andi’s playing there,” explained Andonovski. “We might have to play (with a) double six, or something of a hybrid between six and eight, where two players will take the responsibilities.”

That likely points to a 4-2-3-1 formation, which would open up the door to some more natural fits. Horan plays in that set-up with Lyon, while Gotham FC midfielder Kristie Mewis has also had plenty of success as the No. 8 in that formation in the recent past. Sullivan has seen plenty of time in a 4-2-3-1 with the Spirit, while Kornieck is also familiar with the roles involved as the more attack-oriented player in a double-pivot.

Andonovski has shifted his team into a 4-2-3-1 in friendlies this year against Uzbekistan and the Czech Republic, so the groundwork has been laid if that’s the direction he wants to take. While a full-on formation change isn’t expected, there are circumstances—the group stage finale against Mexico on July 11, for example—where an extra player in the engine room may help protect a lead and keep games manageable.

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