The U.S. women’s national team is renowned for its depth, particularly at the attacking positions. Still, Vlatko Andonovski knows that replacing a player like Mallory Swanson will be impossible.
Swanson suffered a torn patella tendon in Saturday’s friendly win against Ireland, all but ruling her out for the World Cup.
The USWNT has a plethora of options to take Swanson’s starting spot, including Trinity Rodman, Lynn Williams, Megan Rapinoe and the recently called-up Alyssa Thompson.
That quartet can all impact a game in various ways, but USWNT boss Andonovski admitted on Monday that losing Swanson still hurts.
“It is a challenge,” Andonovski said at a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s rematch with Ireland in St. Louis.
“I can sit here and say, ‘Oh no we’re great’ – no, she’s a great player. You don’t replace Mallory that easily. We all know that.
“We can’t go around it. We just have to face it straight up, and we’re ready for it. In some ways, we were preparing certain players for moments like this. And we think that we will have a good answer.”
Andonovski declined to answer whether Swanson has any chance of making a miracle return for the World Cup, only saying that she “has things planned right away in terms of the timeline of how everything is going to play out for her from the rehab and medical side.”
The coach added that Swanson was mentally “doing better than I thought” and that the Red Stars forward was ready to be the USWNT’s biggest fan during her absence.
“She said that all she wants is for the team to be successful,” he said. “She is going to be our biggest supporter, so [she has a] very good mindset, very good mentality.”
Thompson is ‘borderline arrogant’
One of the intriguing options to replace Swanson is Thompson, an 18-year-old rookie with Angel City FC who already has USWNT experience.
“Now we added Alyssa Thompson, who we believe has the ability to play against teams like Ireland who are in a low block, who has the ability to break down compact defenses, and that’s why she’s in the environment,” Andonovski said.
On Thompson, he added: “She’s an exciting player. She has the ability to turn in small areas that not many players have, and not just turn but she accelerates with the ball and runs at defenses with confidence.
“I almost want to say sometimes for an 18-year-old it’s borderline arrogant when she goes at you, but she can eliminate players on the dribble and we’ve of course seen some good goals as well.”
Andonovski added that Thompson would see the field against Ireland on Tuesday, saying the only question is for how long.
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