The ratings for the U.S. women’s national team’s games at the 2023 World Cup remain through the roof.
Fox Sports announced that the USWNT’s 1-1 draw with the Netherlands was watched by an audience of 6,429,000, surpassing a record for U.S. group-stage viewership on an English-language broadcast.
The old record of 5.3 million was set in the 2019 World Cup, when the U.S. faced Chile, and the eventful draw against the Dutch surpassed the total for the team’s 2023 opener against Vietnam by over 1.1 million people.
Metrics from Nielsen Research and Adobe Analytics said that this game also saw the largest streaming audience for a women’s World Cup group stage game in Fox’s history, with an average viewership of 196,938. The Vietnam win held the previous record, but the Netherlands match upped the total by 20.8%.
On the television broadcast, a spike in the game’s final 15 minutes saw viewership peak at 8,451,000, nearly two million more than the peak audience for the USWNT’s tournament opener.
The @USWNT's 1-1 @FIFAWWC draw with Netherlands delivered 6,429,000 million viewers on FOX, making it the most-watched Group Stage match ever on U.S. English language television⚽️🏆
The group-stage records set by this match will likely stand for a while, as the USWNT’s Group E finale against Portugal is scheduled for 3:00 a.m. Eastern.
The top markets in terms of viewership share were:
Frustrating performances aside, the USWNT is still likely to win Group E
The U.S. women’s national team has not met high expectations thus far at the World Cup, but they’re still very much on track to advance out of Group E.
Their opening 3-0 win over Vietnam set them on their way, and while their 1-1 draw with the Netherlands raised plenty of questions, getting to four points from two games is a really good recipe for a place in the knockout round. Moreover, with the USWNT being heavily favored to beat Portugal in their group finale, the team is in pole position to win the group.
That said, pole position doesn’t guarantee you win the race, and between upsets popping up all over this tournament and a wobbly performance against the Dutch, USWNT fans have every reason to want to know about their knockout round scenarios…and also how to avoid a shocking early exit.
We crunched the numbers so you don’t have to. Here’s what the USWNT is looking at, based on all three possible outcomes of their upcoming clash with Portugal (3:00 a.m. Eastern, Fox, Telemundo).
USWNT beats Portugal
A win over Portugal just before the sun rises on the east coast Tuesday morning would assure the U.S. of a spot in the knockout round, and would make it very likely that they’re going through as group winners.
That result would see the USWNT finish with seven points and a plus-four goal difference at a minimum. Just about the only way the Netherlands could nose ahead would be to beat Vietnam by at least three more goals than the U.S. margin of victory over Portugal.
So for example, if the USWNT defeats Portugal 2-0, the Netherlands would need to put up at least a 5-0 scoreline against the Vietnamese to have a chance to win the group. Anything less, and the USWNT would finish in first on goal difference. That would send them to Sydney for an August 6 round of 16 clash with the runner-up from Group G.
If the Dutch win is by three goals more than the USWNT’s, the Oranje would claim the group instead. In that case, the U.S. would fly to Melbourne instead, and take on the winner of Group G on August 6.
There is the potential for some tiebreaker drama here. For example, if the Dutch margin of victory is only two goals more than that of the USWNT, both teams would finish level on points, and on goal difference. In that case, total goals scored by both teams would be the second tiebreaker.
Some common scorelines could cause a dramatic and highly unusual situation to unfold here. As an example, if the U.S. wins 1-0 and the Netherlands takes a 3-0 decision in the other game, the teams would have the same point total, goal difference, and goals scored. FIFA has more tiebreakers after that, but the next three (head-to-head, goal difference in head-to-head games, and goals scored in head-to-head games) clearly don’t change anything, because the U.S. and Netherlands tied 1-1.
That would bring us to fair play points, in which bookings collected as a team are tallied up on the following scoring system:
Yellow card: -1 point
Indirect red card (second yellow card): -3 points
Direct red card: -4 points
Yellow card and direct red card: -5 points
Why are the points negative? Let’s not worry ourselves about why FIFA does whatever they do.
The USWNT is currently a minus-two on this scale, while the Netherlands have a score of minus-one. If the scores set up in a way where this finish is possible, we’re all going to have to count yellow cards in both games on top of everything else.
USWNT draws
All due respect to Portugal, who will be tough and organized, but this would be a troubling result.
However, let’s stick to math for a second rather than soccer analysis. This would put the U.S. on five points, lock in a plus-three goal difference, and would guarantee a spot in the next round, as it would keep the Portuguese behind the USWNT. With Vietnam’s maximum point total being three, the U.S. would go through.
However, they would probably be going through as the group runners-up, with the Netherlands heavily favored against Vietnam. The USWNT would need Vietnam to produce a Jamaica vs. France-level shock in getting a result against the Dutch. In that case, the Netherlands would also finish with five points, but the current goal difference edge the USWNT has would give them first place.
If Vietnam managed to beat the Netherlands in this scenario, the U.S. would win the group and Portugal would climb over the Dutch on goal difference (they’d have a plus-one, while the best Netherlands GD with a loss would be zero).
USWNT loses
A 1W-1D-1L record would represent the USWNT’s worst showing in a World Cup group stage, and would almost certainly be followed by a coaching change and plenty of recriminations and fallout at U.S. Soccer.
It would not, however, guarantee elimination. Believe it or not, the U.S. could fall to Portugal and still go through.
It would take a miracle, though. A loss would see the USWNT finish on four points and (at best) a plus-two goal difference. Portugal, on six points, would definitely be ahead of the U.S., and the only way through would be a Netherlands loss to Vietnam. In that case, you’d have the U.S. and Netherlands level on four points, with Vietnam eliminated on three.
Goal difference could become a factor if the Dutch loss is by just one goal. The U.S. would have to not just lose, but get steamrolled, to end up being eliminated in that scenario.
However, a Vietnam win over the Netherlands is…let’s be generous and just call it “unlikely.” Most likely, the Oranje will be up there on seven points, meaning that a U.S. loss to Portugal would likely be just as catastrophic as you’re probably thinking.
The fate of Group E is in the balance after the 1-1 result
Alex Morgan has admitted that the U.S. women’s national team is “not happy” after only managing to draw the Netherlands 1-1 in their second game of the World Cup.
The U.S. fell behind midway through a subpar first half after Jill Roord found the net with a low drive from the top of the box.
Fueled by Lindsey Horan, the USWNT stormed back in the second half but still only managed to draw in a result that leaves Group E hanging in the balance.
The USWNT is level on points with Netherlands atop the group, sitting in first place due to a two-goal advantage in goal differential. But with the Netherlands facing Vietnam in their final group match, a heavy win would put the pressure on the U.S. to follow suit against Portugal.
Morgan was well aware of the repercussions of the USWNT’s failure to win against the Dutch, and could not hide her frustration with the result.
“We knew [the equalizer] was coming. We knew it was inevitable and not to get the second one, I think it’s a bit unlucky,” Morgan told ESPN.
“We played in their half almost the entire second half. I don’t even think they had really dangerous opportunities in the second half. So just to see us come into the locker room, regroup and come out in the second half and put on that display, I’m really proud of the group.
“But yeah, we’re not happy if we’re not getting the win. Obviously, it puts first place of the group up for grabs now. So we have to close the job when we play Portugal in a few days.”
For The Win spoke with 2-time World Cup champion Tobin Heath about the USWNT in the 2023 tournament.
During the 2023 World Cup, Tobin Heath is doing something a little different.
For the first time in more than a decade, she’ll be watching the competition from afar after winning World Cup titles with Team USA in 2015 and 2019. Heath hasn’t played in a game since undergoing knee surgery in September.
So instead, she and Christen Press — a fellow two-time World Cup champ recovering from a knee injury — will break it down on their new digital series, The RE—CAP Show, which is produced by the lifestyle brand RE—INC, founded by Heath, Press, Megan Rapinoe and Meghan Klingenberg in 2019. Through the content arm of RE—INC, Heath hopes to provide the kind of analysis she’d want to see and “reimagine the way women are seen and experienced in sports.” The first episode dropped Thursday.
“We say we live at the intersection of sports progress and equity,” 35-year-old Heath said. “It’s always kind of cool to see how with just a single platform — which essentially was the legacy of the founders and all of our fights both on and off the field — how we’ve used that to create a vehicle that could far outlast any of our own individual playing careers.”
Ahead of the USWNT’s first game in the 2023 World Cup — its matchup against Vietnam is set for 9 p.m. ET on Friday on FOX — For The Win spoke with Heath about her expectations for the team, its biggest competition, equity in women’s soccer and the upcoming retirement of star Megan Rapinoe.
The USWNT legend has established her credentials as an icon on and off the field
Trinity Rodman and Megan Rapinoe have been talking a lot lately.
At the U.S. women’s national team media day on June 27 in Carson, California, Rodman shared some of the legendary winger’s advice to her as she prepared for her first World Cup.
“The biggest thing that she told me is you’re here for a reason,” Rodman said. “Do you, and if you stray from that, you’re not gonna perform the way you want to. When you’re on a big stage, it’s easy to feel like you need to live up to everyone’s expectations, and in reality you need to play the way you played when you first came in [to camp].”
Twelve days and 365 miles later, Rodman stepped onto the field at PayPal Park in San Jose for the second half of the team’s World Cup send-off match, and scored an emphatic brace against a scrappy yet composed Wales side.
Rapinoe didn’t play in the send-off game, and it remains unclear exactly how much she’ll be able to make on-field contributions in the World Cup as she eases her way back from injury. But her presence, and the legacy she’s built over the course of her career, was nonetheless felt on the pitch that Sunday, channeled, even if only in a small way, through the advice that buoyed Rodman’s confidence and encouraged her to show up and play as her full self.
This World Cup will be Rapinoe’s last. The 38-year-old announced on the eve of the send-off game her plans to retire from professional soccer at the end of the NWSL season, rendering obsolete the endless speculations about her future.
Questions about the remainder of Rapinoe’s storied tenure have been swirling for years: Would she even make the World Cup roster? And if so, what role would she play? And if she was brought along primarily as a role player, would that assignment justify her potentially taking the spot of a player with the capacity to play a tournament’s worth of full 90s?
But ephemeral realities have a way of casting such questions in a new light, reassigning their value and urgency; now, as she prepares for her grand exit, her role is clear: to enjoy herself and the game she’s helped transform — which, of course, includes winning.
AP Photo/Josie Lepe
Rapinoe admitted during her announcement that “since the final whistle in Lyon” at the 2019 World Cup final, she’d been wrestling with the matter of her retirement. And yet, for a player who’s shown over the years that change was her only constant, Rapinoe supplied one of her last soccer-related surprises when she declared she’d soon be hanging up her boots. Getting the news out ahead of the tournament was done in part, she said, to eliminate the distraction caused by sitting quietly with the news. “It feels weird to know and be settled, to sort of have to lie by omission about it,” she said. “I just want to be able to soak in every moment and share it with teammates and friends and family and share it with the rest of the world.”
If anything, Rapinoe’s retirement announcement added yet another dimension to the U.S. squad’s mandate this World Cup. Before, they were simply seeking an historical (for men’s and women’s soccer) three-peat championship at a time when the competition is fiercer than it’s ever been, and the margins between teams like Zambia and Germany are dwindling. Now, they want to usher the most recognizable face — and among the most undeniable forces — in women’s soccer into the next phase of her career with another title.
Naomi Girma counts Rapinoe, along with other veterans like Becky Sauerbrunn, Alex Morgan, and Crystal Dunn, among those who made her feel welcome when she first got invited to national team camp. She had a sense of what Rapinoe might be like — she’d been following her and the national team on Instagram long before she became a member herself — and was comforted by that same authenticity when she first met her in person.
“She’s unapologetically herself, which is really valuable to have and makes her such a great person to have on your team,” said Girma, 23. “She’ll be missed, but we know that we have a task at hand right now. We know she’s going to give everything to help us win this World Cup, and we’re going to help her do the same.”
For those national team players whose careers have intertwined with Rapinoe’s for even longer, her impending exit hits even deeper. Dunn was overcome with emotions reflecting on her friendship with the Seattle-based forward.
“I just love her so much,” she gushed, wiping back tears. “She’s been so key for me in my career and, you know, she’s somebody that I can call with the most random stuff. She has blue hair because I actually sent her a selfie of me having blue hair, so here we are.”
Dunn added that while some players are only interested in fulfilling the duties of their job description as soccer players — “showing up, playing soccer, doing that to the best of their ability” — Rapinoe has shown, through her own tireless advocacy and activism, that “we are so much more than just athletes playing on a field in front of fans.
“What she stands for is so incredibly important, and I think that’s why she means so much to me is that I’m also someone who feels like this game is a platform for us to show our true versions of ourselves,” Dunn added.
With an aversion to withholding the most important parts of herself, Rapinoe has always been who she is — on and off the field. She served one of the most iconic crosses in the history of women’s soccer in the 2011 World Cup, and came out as gay the following year; knelt in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick in 2016 (becoming the first white American athlete to join his protest), and ruffled the feathery ego of former President Donald Trump when she said, “I’m not going to the f—–g White House” in 2019. A month after that video clip surfaced, she was awarded both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the 2019 World Cup, and later took home the coveted Ballon d’Or for that year.
Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Rapinoe has been clear that she thinks this will be the greatest World Cup yet. It’s also shaping up to be just as much of a social movement as it is a soccer tournament, with teams from every region of the world harnessing their agency and speaking out against injustices ranging from unequal pay to toxic coaches to a lack of resources unfit for a national team.
With so much heaped onto the shoulders of female athletes, it can be challenging to imagine a day where they’re able to focus solely on the game itself, and not the litany of social issues that currently surround it. But Rapinoe knows, has always known, it’s possible, and it’s a future she will continue fighting for through the conclusion of her career and whatever comes after it.
“What I see as the goal for us is not the comparison or an arrival point because that’s just a constant comparison to men’s sports, and that goalpost will just always be moved,” she said, “but I think for us it’s understanding that nothing ever stays the same, and you have to be in constant motion, constant progress. As soon as we know one thing, we have more knowledge to know something else and an opportunity to continue to be better, to bring more people in, to make more space for people to be their full selves.”
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.
For any U.S. women’s national team head coach, the calculus at any major tournament is clear: win or bust.
This summer that will be especially true of Vlatko Andonovski, who will lead the USWNT into the World Cup nearly four years after taking over from two-time champion Jill Ellis, and two years after a disappointing major tournament debut at the Olympics.
To put it simply: Andonovski is on the hot seat, and only a third straight World Cup win for the USWNT will do.
It all started well enough for Andonovski, who took over in the afterglow of the team’s 2019 World Cup triumph in France. The USWNT breezed to 16 straight wins to start Andonovski’s tenure, and won 22 of his first 23 games overall.
That start led up to the Olympics in 2021, where the USWNT was heavily favored to banish the demons of 2016 and recapture the gold. But things went south quickly in Japan.
It started with a 3-0 defeat to Sweden in which the USWNT was dominated in shockingly comprehensive fashion. The U.S. would recover to reach the semifinal, but fell to Canada for the first time in 20 years, ultimately bouncing back to win bronze.
“He took us to the Olympics and we fell short,” Lindsey Horan told USA Today’s Sports Seriously. “It’s not how we wanted to perform. The bronze medal was incredible, but we always shoot for gold.”
Despite taking home a medal, the team’s display in Japan was a low point in Andonovski’s tenure. The U.S. had not been shut out since 2017 heading into the Olympics, and was blanked three times in Japan. It was reactive, unsteady, and looked shockingly vulnerable.
Andonovski was criticized for relying too heavily on the USWNT’s old guard while young stars were omitted from the roster or, in the case of Catarina Macario, given seven minutes of total playing time.
(Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)
There was a sense that a generational overhaul was needed and in the period following the Olympics, it appeared that was happening.
After omitting the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan from his 2022 SheBelieves Cup squad, Andonovski sounded like a man ready to fully turn the page.
“There’s a reason why Mia Hamm is not in camp still,” he said when asked about the veteran omissions. “We’re not calling Mia Hamm or Julie Foudy in camp right? So the same goes here.”
The message was hardly subtle, but what has emerged since then has been entirely more nuanced than the simple cull that appeared to be going on at the time.
Fourteen of the 23 players on Andonovski’s World Cup roster are first-timers, but a number of veterans — including, of course, Rapinoe and Morgan — were also in the squad. The average age of the roster is 28.5, putting it right in line with the World Cup-winning teams of 2015 and 2019.
Horan said that the period following the Olympics was a learning process for both coach and players. Even with some big-name veterans still around, a combination of injuries and retirements have led to plenty of roster turnover.
“It’s big learning lessons for us and for him, and how to manage his team,” Horan said. “I think the biggest thing that he’s done is brought in these new players, and had to make some tough decisions. Bringing in this roster and how we’re moving forward, and how we’re going to play and especially with the injuries that he’s had to deal with, it’s changed a lot leading to the World Cup.”
Part of those lessons came during a three-game losing streak last fall — the team’s first since 1993. It’s the kind of run that may only be properly contextualized after the World Cup. Was it part of a necessary phase of growth, or will it be just another black mark on Andonovski’s USWNT resume?
For the coach himself, the opportunity ahead is clear. Being at the wheel of a juggernaut like the USWNT — even one at slightly less that 100 percent — is something that only those in the most rarefied air of the game will ever experience.
“If you’re a soccer player you dream to play in the World Cup, if you’re a coach you dream to coach in it, so it’s a dream come true for me personally,” Andonovski said after the World Cup roster was released. “Obviously myself, together with the staff will do anything possible to help this team make history.”
Now, Andonovski and the USWNT need to deliver.
“Would I be happy with anything short of a third straight win? No, absolutely not,” he said last month. “There’s only one thing in mind. Our goal is to win the World Cup. There’s no question about it.”
Sanchez’s newfound consistency should serve the USWNT well
The U.S. women’s national team seems set to truly lean on Ashley Sanchez for the first time, and an offseason evolution means the playmaker is ready for the occasion.
In some ways, this moment has been a long time coming: Sanchez starred at the youth national team level, received her first USWNT call-up at just 17 years old, and led a national title contender in assists as a college freshman at UCLA. Upon joining the Washington Spirit, she claimed NWSL’s Future Legend award in 2020, a stand-in for Rookie of the Year after that season was significantly curtailed by the pandemic.
The California native’s trajectory has always pointed towards a place on the world stage with the USWNT.
That leads to the 2023 World Cup, and an interesting sort of pressure. With Rose Lavelle’s fitness still a major question, the nation will tune in to the USWNT’s Group E opener against Vietnam and in all likelihood, Sanchez will be on the field in her place. Vlatko Andonovski’s side is expected to win handily, but will only do so if they get a strong effort from their central attacking midfielder. More than most players, Sanchez will be under the microscope.
Sanchez is, at her core, an entertainer. That’s obvious to anyone that has seen her play for the USWNT, the Spirit, at UCLA, or with youth national teams. The tricks, the moves, the celebrations all point to a player who wants to put on a show.
Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
It also becomes clear in conversation. An interview about offseason training pivots on a dime into Sanchez laughingly recounting a one-car fender bender she got into days after buying a new Tesla (she and her passenger Emily Fox were not injured, and the car was easily repaired). A misunderstanding in a post-game interview comes with the kind of exaggerated reaction more commonly seen in sketch comedy than the media room at Audi Field.
In front of a crowd of thousands, or just talking to a reporter, Sanchez wants to bring some levity to the table. That informs her style of play, and in terms of raw ability, there are few doubts that Sanchez can deliver at the highest level. The creativity and showmanship that comes out when she’s joking around materialize in highlight-reel goals and assists. She’s the kind of player people pay to watch.
The questions for Sanchez have in the past revolved around consistency: can she impact games when she’s not absolutely feeling it, or not finding the pockets as easily as she’d like? Will the defensive effort be there?
Speaking to Pro Soccer Wire not long before being officially named to the USWNT’s World Cup roster, Sanchez is blunt about how the consistently high expectations placed on her for club and country — a big difference from the first three seasons of her pro career — have sparked a change for her.
“The standards are so high in both places that it’s like, no drop-off,” explained Sanchez. “I’m just feeling really prepared when I do go into [national team] camp because it’s like the same exact environment.”
According to her, that’s a stark contrast from years past, where things like high pressing and defensive effort were simply not part of her job description with the Spirit.
“Obviously, it’s expected at the national team. And I would do it there, and I’d come back and it was like…I mean, no one really cares,” said Sanchez. “But I just think [Spirit head coach Mark Parsons’ system] just helps in a way. I gotta train it a lot, I gotta practice it a lot, [do it] in games. And then it’s not a shock to the system when I go in with the national team.”
Sanchez was speaking about a specific need to put in more hard running without the ball, but it reflects the inconsistencies and instability that have surrounded her at club level. Despite a path that seemed to be leading inexorably to this point, Sanchez has barely experienced anything resembling smooth sailing.
Think about the last few years in the NWSL, and at the Washington Spirit in particular. The pandemic started weeks after Sanchez was selected fourth overall in the 2020 NWSL College Draft. Sanchez’s first pro season, a massively valuable moment for growth, would see her play a total of nine competitive games, all in empty, minor-league stadiums.
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
In 2021, the Spirit managed to win the league championship in completely unlikely fashion, but were also one of the focus points in the abuse scandal that has changed women’s sports on a fundamental level. Washington’s players — after the dismissal of head coach Richie Burke, one of the coaches found to have committed that abuse — ended up playing a major factor in an ownership change, standing together to demand a sale of the team.
In 2022, a new set of problems emerged. The Spirit could not find their feet amid a grueling, over-stuffed early season schedule. Burke’s replacement Kris Ward was dismissed over a training ground incident, while a team that had talked about its justifiably huge ambitions finished in 11th place.
Her club and international teammate Andi Sullivan, in an interview with Pro Soccer Wire, said it’s been at least as difficult as those facts would make it seem.
“I think she’s had — and not just lately and now, but her whole professional career — a lot of difficulty with the timing [of when] she came into the league, and the team that she came to, and the challenges that have been presented to her,” said Sullivan.
Despite all of that, Sanchez found her role with the USWNT growing. After getting her first cap late in 2021, she scored her first senior international goal in April 2022. Sanchez’s play may have waxed and waned amid the chaos with the Spirit, but Andonovski kept calling her in with the knowledge that she wasn’t far from being a truly special player at the highest level.
At long last, 2023 has offered Sanchez the stability to move consistently in that direction. Sanchez has responded accordingly, saying she approached this offseason as if it “might be the most important offseason” of her career.
“I think [there] was a lot more added pressure in obviously going into a World Cup year, and my first real opportunity to be on the team,” said Sanchez. “I think I kind of went at it a little bit differently. Me and some of the other players on the national team all trained together in LA, which was really fun and we got really good work in. I think that really helped me.”
That group included Fox as well as veterans like Crystal Dunn, Sofia Huerta, Alyssa Naeher, and Becky Sauerbrunn. In each case, those players aren’t just USWNT regulars, but models of consistency. It’s a dream group in terms of modeling the high standards that are a part of the national team’s internal culture, and in helping steer Sanchez towards this evolution in her game.
Still, the offseason is short, and most of Sanchez’s growth has come in training with the Spirit. On that front, she says that — after admitting some skepticism — the club’s own improvements have surpassed her expectations.
“It’s really funny, because last year, I was in the office of [Spirit general manager] Mark Krikorian and he was just like, ‘You have to trust me.’ He kept saying that,” said Sanchez. “I was like, ‘You know, I’ve heard this a lot of times, but OK, I will.’ And I think he’s just exceeded everything. Him and Michele [Kang, the Spirit’s owner] have put together the greatest staff group ever.
“I just feel like I’ve grown so much in such a short amount of time, on the field, off the field, professionalism, all the things. When I reflect back, I’m like… I would not have done that last year, I would have thought completely different. I just honestly think they’ve been great in my development, on the field and off the field.”
That manifests most specifically in a changed mindset when it comes to pressing. While the Spirit and USWNT play different systems, the No. 10 for both teams cannot be a passenger, and Sanchez says she’s been able to transform her mentality when it comes to being without the ball.
“I changed my mindset [from] ‘I’m just defending and pressing or whatever,'” Sanchez says with a mock roll of the eyes, conveying how she used to think of that part of the game as a sort of drudgery. “I think when you put your mind on ‘Oh, this can be a really good attacking opportunity to catch them when they’re disorganized,’ or whatever. I think when I thought about it that way, it’s really easy to want to get the ball.”
Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
It has not gone unnoticed. Parsons told reporters in May that in his analysis of the team heading into 2023, Sanchez was “in and out of games, and [her] defending was in and out as well,” before characterizing her as undergoing “a transformation this year.”
Sullivan echoes that sentiment, saying that she’s seen Sanchez become more consistent, and also sharpen her ability to choose the right time and place to showcase her attacking skills.
“People were drawn to her for the Spirit and for the national team because of those moments of just being able to slice something open that no one else could,” said Sullivan. “Since going into the national team, and Vlatko demanding a lot of her and now, this offseason under Mark with a clear style and a clear role and clear standards, she’s just been able to absorb all of that and grow a lot.
“I think that’s credit, obviously to Mark and his coaching, but moreso Sanchez absorbing that information and being coachable and applying the information that he is giving her.”
That last point comes through from Sanchez herself, with the playmaker saying that she’s taken on the “never too high, never too low” philosophy that Parsons has preached since being hired late in 2022. That includes an increased emphasis on video analysis, which comes from both the Spirit and the USWNT.
With a laugh, Sanchez said the enjoyability of those sessions “depends how well I played,” but quickly adds that she’s taking on a more even-keeled approach to analyzing her mistakes. “It’s never as bad as you think it is. But then also, you can’t get better if you don’t watch it and analyze these things.”
Per Sanchez, a high level of specificity is a constant in those discussions, which has been a welcome shift away from coming to her own conclusions from game film.
“Before, when I would watch film on my own, I was like, ‘I think I could do something better here,’ but there’s nobody telling me exactly what I should be doing,” explained Sanchez. “Now it’s like, I know it’s expected of me, so it’s easier for me to analyze, but they also give me feedback: ‘You’re in good space, but you need to face up. You need to be out of the shadow, two feet to the right.’
“I think that just made it really easy on the field, to be remembering things like that. And I can kind of be like, ‘OK, this is exact same play, and I need to do this.’ And then it usually works out, so I think they know what they’re talking about.”
All of which adds up to the Sanchez of 2023: still extravagantly talented, but now a player that her teams can rely on in all phases of the game. This is the Sanchez that the USWNT will be looking to at the World Cup:
The flair she’s known for is obvious, but consider everything else at play in this moment. Washington had just fallen behind 1-0, on the road against the Portland Thorns. Sophia Smith golazo, Providence Park is roaring.
It’s a gut-check moment for the Spirit, and as Dorian Bailey’s cross kind of creeps through, it’s running away from everyone.
This is where we see the difference. The cleverness and skill level involved in Sanchez’s heel flick — and it’s intentional, as you can see from how she finds Ashley Hatch with her eyes — is staggering, but she’s doing this at a full sprint. This play is a lost cause, and Sanchez had to put in major work to deliver that bit of magic. There’s no waiting for the moment the defense stands off of her, but rather an insistence. She’s not accepting a gift, but rather changing the game, as a protagonist.
Data bears this out with the Spirit. In 2021, with Sanchez on the field, the Spirit were barely breaking even, with FBref saying Washington’s expected goals per 90 minutes were merely a plus-0.05 above how they did without her. In 2022, that number fell into minus-0.07, meaning Washington fared slightly better when one of its best players was not on the field.
In 2023? That figure has jumped dramatically, with Sanchez’s plus-0.38 the best total on Washington’s roster.
As a player whose own in-game actions depend heavily on what the attacking midfielder in front of her is doing, Sullivan’s perspective may offer the best summary of Sanchez’s maturation.
“I’m looking at things that she has to deal with, and I’m blown away,” said an effusive Sullivan. “I think she is really growing more resilient [in] handling things, and I think that’s — honestly that’s how you survive the national team. Things don’t get easier. You get better at handling those difficult moments and you bounce back quicker and you stay steadier, and I think I see that more and more from her every day, and it’s really cool to witness.”
Momentum has been building in recent years, and the World Cup can be a flashpoint
The groundswell of brands investing in women’s soccer in recent years has been evident.
In the NWSL, blue-chip brands have been signing with the league and its clubs, which are increasingly being backed by big-pocket investors. Individual players are also moving the needle as standard bearers on a global scale.
Courtney Ksiazek, senior director of partnership marketing at Angel City FC, tells Pro Soccer Wire that the loyalty of women’s sports fans is a tantalizing factor for companies interested in getting involved.
“The main shift in recent years is it’s not just about a brand giving for charity’s sake. They’re making a genuine investment,” Ksiazek said. “Through women’s soccer, they are connecting with a different type of fan. Not just a general soccer fan.
“The loyalty of not just soccer but women’s sports fans goes so far beyond other sports. The brands that support women’s soccer will receive more in-depth engagement and loyalty as women’s soccer has been lacking consistent business support in years past. If brands invest in the sports and showcase that loyalty to the growth of the game, the fans will give that loyalty right back to the brands.”
The magnitude of the 2023 Women’s World Cup isn’t just a flashpoint that arrived out of nowhere. FIFA’s most recent benchmarking report “Setting the Pace 2022”details the growth of women’s soccer from 2021 to 2022 in all facets including fan engagement, player representation, and financial growth.
Commercial investment was the main driver on both the club and league levels, with brand dollars accounting for 56% of an average club’s total revenue (matchday, broadcast, commercial, and other) and 54% of an average league’s total revenue.
Additionally:
Of the clubs providing information, there was year-on-year commercial revenue growth of 33% – indicating the continued and growing interest from commercial sponsors wishing to be associated with women’s soccer. In turn, leagues have experienced year-on-year growth of 24% in commercial revenues.
The number of leagues with a title sponsor has grown over the past year, with 77% of leagues having a title sponsor in 2022, up 11% from 2021.
What accounts for this steady growth in commercial investment?
“Many U.S.-based brands have continued to jump onboard to support and sponsor on a global perspective,” Sara Toussaint tells Pro Soccer Wire.
Tousant is a partner and managing director of underdog venture team, as well as an investor in both The Marketing Jersey, a global women’s soccer athlete management agency, and the NWSL’s North Carolina Courage.
“These are blue-chip, world-recognized brands that are investing in this sport. They are looking at women’s sports as a new way to market.”
Companies are able to leverage women’s soccer fans by investing genuine dollars right back into the leagues and teams these fans are consuming.
Data from the Sports Innovation Lab shows how fans of women’s soccer immediately developed a greater affinity for Visa and Budweiser after the two companies made major investments in the USWNT and the NWSL, respectively.
“I think brands are becoming more creative in how they’re investing,” Toussaint said. “It’s not just, ‘Hey we want marketing dollars in exchange for signage.’ Rather, it’s evolving to, ‘Hey we want that signage and those activations but we also want to embed ourselves within the culture of these clubs, leagues, federations.'”
Looking further into how the data backs women’s soccer as a viable commercial investment, Sports Innovation Lab and Jung von Matt SPORTS’ “Fanarchy26” report details the soccer landscape in the United States and corresponding fan interest.
“The underlying thesis of the report is that the U.S. market is primed for the growth of soccer and women’s soccer over the next upcoming years,” Sports Innovation Lab head of innovation Abe Stein told Pro Soccer Wire. “It’s a great opportunity for onboarding new fans and engaging new fans”
No fan becomes a part of the sport in the same way. Some have a direct pathway if they’ve played the sport or if they’re the parent of a player, or it could be through cultural moments or video games.
Yet, one of the most important pathways for becoming a soccer fan has a direct connection with FIFA’s crown jewel kicking off this summer.
Defined as “The National Team Fan,” this archetype becomes a soccer fan through supporting their national team around key competitions. Skewing evenly amongst genders with a 51% male/49% female breakdown, this fan scored high in areas of avidity (average level of passion for soccer based on survey responses) and engagement (average active participation in soccer based on survey responses specific to attendance, viewership, and purchases).
“When we think of soccer at large, about 27% of soccer fans became fans because of their national team,” Sports Innovation Lab’s COO Kerry Bradley told Pro Soccer Wire. “Both sides of the equation highlight the importance of this year’s Women’s World Cup. It’s at an all-time high in terms of engagement, time, and energy.”
Growth from the Women’s World Cup is not isolated just to the tournament itself. Rather, it allows for post-World Cup momentum to be carried into domestic leagues. The Fanarchy26 report further illustrates that “60% of fans who follow the NWSL say they became fans of the sport because of a national team.”
“If we can identify that the origin of fandom is coming from international soccer, it’s even more imperative that brands need to focus not just on the international competition before and during the tournament, they also need to focus attention on domestic leagues like the NWSL as the trickle-down effect carries over from after a national tournament,” says Bradley.
“The opportunity to see soccer at the highest scale will spurn collaboration amongst local, domestic teams,” says Ksiazek. “Business goals will align well as superstars, breakout players will return to their clubs and continue to carry that momentum back to their clubs. The carryover impact has been there on the men’s side, especially with more established leagues and clubs. While there’s work to be done within the media side, the opportunity is now for brands to continue that momentum from the World Cup and invest within domestic leagues and clubs.”
The growth within women’s soccer hasn’t come out of nowhere, nor will it peak with the World Cup this summer. Brands that have been investing in recent years know the women’s soccer community is only going to become more appealing as more fans continue to hop onboard. The rest will find out soon enough.
“For the last 6-7 years, people have been asking, ‘When’s the tipping point for women’s soccer?'” says Ksiazek. “It’s not just one thing, the work has been put in each and every day over that time frame. This isn’t just a flash in the pan. The ecosystem is primed for it now. If there was ever a point for the landscape and perspectives to change, while it’s beyond time, now is as good of a time as ever.”
FIFA says Tazuni’s name “is a fusion of ‘Tasman Sea’ – which she calls home – and ‘unity,’ a key value of the event”
The world will descend upon Australia and New Zealand for the Women’s World Cup this month, and one of the most important members of the welcoming committee is a soccer-loving penguin named Tazuni.
Last fall, Tazuni was announced as the official mascot of the 2023 tournament. Her name, according to FIFA, “is a fusion of ‘Tasman Sea’ – which she calls home – and ‘unity,’ a key value of the event.”
Tazuni is based on the Eudyptula minor species of penguin that calls New Zealand and Australia home. Colloquially, the species is known as the “little penguin” or the “little blue penguin.”
We are now journalistically required to show you a real picture of a little penguin.
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Does Tazuni have a backstory as to how she discovered her love for the game? Does she also have an age and preferred position on the field? Check and check.
The 15-year-old, who plays in midfield, falls in love with football after joining in with a group of kids playing a game on the beach.
Her footballing dreams come true when one evening she gazes up to see fireworks explode overhead coming from a nearby stadium. The kids from the beach hand over a personalized football kit, and she confidently strides into the stadium to showcase her talents.
Perhaps even more importantly, Alex Morgan is already a fan.
