USWNT running on empty after deflating loss to Spain’s B-team

A mentally and physically drained USWNT was no match for a spirited Spain team on Tuesday

Vlatko Andonovski was clearly tired of hearing how depleted Spain’s team would be for Tuesday’s friendly in Pamplona.

“This is a very talented team,” Andonovski said prior to the game of his opponents, who were missing 15 players amid an ongoing dispute with the Spanish federation.

He added: “I have to say, they can say the same thing about us. I mean, we have 15 players that are not available for selection because of injury. In every line it’s some very important players.”

When combining injuries and other absences, the USWNT is heavily depleted. Julie Ertz, Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis, Catarina Macario, Tierna Davidson and Lynn Williams have been missing for months. Alex Morgan, Emily Sonnett, Kelley O’Hara, Emily Fox and Mallory Pugh are more recent absences, to name a few.

Still, it’s hard to feel too bad for the USWNT, and those absences can hardly explain away another poor display in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Spain.

The USWNT has the kind of depth that other countries, including Spain, can only dream of.

That’s why Andonovski will be so dismayed to see how his team was played off the pitch by Spain’s B-team. Because while Spain was missing nearly every member of what would be a first-choice lineup on Tuesday, the same could not be said of the Americans.

Becky Sauerbrunn, Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan, and Sophia Smith would be locked-in starters if the World Cup final was today. Alana Cook, Casey Murphy, Andi Sullivan and Trinity Rodman would be in the mix. That’s eight of the 11 players who started.

But this was a comprehensive defeat for the USWNT, who lost for the second straight match after also losing to England at Wembley last week.

Andonovski’s team lacked any offensive penetration, failing to get its most dangerous players on the ball in good spots. On any occasion that it did, Spain’s defenders were there to immediately snuff out the danger. Misa RodrĂ­guez was barely troubled at all in the Spain net.

The USWNT fell apart on a set piece for Spain’s opener and was undone by some incisive passing and a tremendous finish by Esther for Spain’s second.

Here is where we must mention that this was a physically and mentally depleted USWNT side, which is still in the thick of the fallout from the Yates report. No doubt that taking the pitch and finding a rhythm was made much tougher by the headspace many players occupy right now.

But this game, and this European trip, was a rude awakening for a USWNT side that looks far from the World Cup favorite it expects to be next summer.

Next month sees the U.S. take on Germany in two friendlies Stateside. It’s hardly time to panic yet, but the team’s final two games of 2022 will take on a new air of importance after an alarming trip across the Atlantic.

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