U.S. women’s national team coach Emma Hayes said she wanted better decision-making and execution before a goal against Costa Rica in the Americans’ final game before leaving for the 2024 Olympics.
Instead, it was given a scoreless draw in which the USWNT took 26 shots and had 80% possession against a Tica a team that played in an ultra-low block – a 4-2-3-1 “Christmas tree,” Hayes noted after the game – that clogged the channels and demanded from the Americans a precision that never came.
“Look, if you play a game of percentages or law of averages, we’re creating more and more high-quality chances and we’re introducing numbers in key areas, we’re touching the ball in key areas,” Hayes said after reading an Opta statistic of his team’s 67 touches of the ball in the Costa Rica box without scoring.
“The last part is the hardest. And I’m very patient because I’ve coached teams that have had to break blocks, and that’s the hardest thing to do in coaching. If we hadn’t created situations tonight, yeah, I might say something different, but I really like the team’s intent. We kept going.”
Despite the statistical dominance, the USWNT produced fewer expected goals against Costa Rica (1.82, according to TruMedia) than it did in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Mexico (1.94), the “last game” Hayes was referring to.
Tuesday’s game was played in sweltering heat (the heat index at kickoff was 41 degrees Celsius), and it was a farewell game, which can often produce aberrant performances from teams. Still, the U.S. women’s national team’s lack of end product over the final 180 minutes is concerning, not in and of itself, but because it recalls the problems of yesteryear.
The Americans struggled to find their groove before the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and the problems predicted before that tournament were realized when the United States was eliminated in the round of 16, its worst result at a major tournament. It was a different team, with a different coach — and Hayes has long-term development as his focus — but the question of when things will get better in goal remains a legitimate and pressing one a week before the Olympics.
The squad is brimming with individual talent, an undeniable truth about the 2023 World Cup squad as well, and there have been moments of collective magic.
A late-game combination of Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith, moments after the trio came on in a June 4 win over South Korea, is proof of that. All three players remain in form to earn MVP honors for their National Women’s Soccer League clubs.
For the U.S. women’s team, combination play remains a work in progress, not just among the three forwards but as a collective. The U.S. women’s best moments in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Mexico came in transition. Developing that philosophy will take longer than the four games the U.S. women’s team played under Hayes before the Olympics.
“Yes, we need to be more clinical, I don’t need to state the obvious,” Hayes said. “But I think when you’ve had maybe half a dozen training sessions in total since I’ve been coach, I think that’s a pretty good return so far.”
Midfielder Rose Lavelle was pulled from the lineup after warmups Tuesday due to what U.S. Soccer called “leg stiffness.” Lavelle’s creativity in tight spaces was sorely missed against an opponent’s low block, a timeless statement applicable to many games in recent years. Lavelle’s rise with the USWNT in 2017 coincided with the USWNT’s inability to solve low blocks at the 2016 Olympics.
Korbin Albert replaced Lavelle and played in an attacking midfield role alongside Lindsey Horan, and the United States probed but never broke through.
Rodman, Smith and Swanson each turned the corner of their defenders to reach the end line in the first 12 minutes, but found opposing bodies – or the hands of goalkeeper Noelia Bermúdez – in the way of their crosses or shots.
The most cohesive offensive moment of the first half and perhaps the match came in the 37th minute, when a series of USWNT passes down the left side ended with defensive midfielder Sam Coffey lobbing a ball toward the back post for Horan, whose in-motion right foot made contact only to see the ball bounce gently off the near post.
It was a rare attack down the left wing for the USWNT. Jenna Nighswonger, who has established herself as the team’s starting left back, was out of Tuesday’s game to manage the workload ahead of the Olympics. No player has risen to the top of the Hayes era as Nighswonger, whose first call-up came during the late November camp that followed Hayes’ nomination (but not official arrival) to the team. She had started eight of the USWNT’s 11 games this year before Tuesday. In her absence, the USWNT has changed course.
The Americans often build possession with Nighswonger pushing high on the left side in a quasi-winger role when she is on the pitch. Without her on Tuesday, however, the Americans leaned drastically toward the right side, so much so that the average position for Swanson — who started the game as a left winger — was well inside Smith for the first 45 minutes.
THE #USWNT Swanson often favors a left-side setup with Nighswonger, but they’re overloading the right side so much tonight (without her) that Swanson’s average position is actually so far inside Smith’s that they’ve reversed the trend. It’s not entirely new, but it’s much more pronounced. pic.twitter.com/KNa414lf9H
– Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) July 17, 2024
“It’s definitely on,” Hayes told right back Emily Fox early in the first half, as reported by TNT’s mic. Hayes was talking the ball to Rodman in the wide areas. It was on, as were other opportunities, but the USWNT’s end product lagged again Tuesday.
Hayes switched to a 3-5-2 in the second half to try to find more pockets in attack, and the USWNT looked more lively but still couldn’t find a breakthrough.
Caution and context are particularly important in farewell matches. There is an awkward mix of experimentation and injury protection – with the potential anxiety players feel before a major tournament – that almost makes the result seem secondary.
All of these unusual circumstances have apparently contributed to the duller matches. There have been some poor farewell matches before, including a 0-0 draw with South Korea before the 2015 World Cup. The United States won that tournament, the first of two consecutive World Cups.
The landscape has changed dramatically since then, as Hayes has regularly reminded the world. The Americans are not the favorites at these Olympics, and a group that includes Zambia, Germany and Australia will challenge them every step of the way. The signs of progress under Hayes are plentiful, including the time she spent overseeing the team remotely in the spring alongside interim coach Twila Kilgore. Hayes pointed to the variety of challenges they have faced recently, from Mexico’s man-marking to the different defensive blocks.
But as Hayes said again Tuesday: “We have to be patient.”
Tuesday was another exercise in this challenge.
“Playing against low blocks is the hardest thing for any team in football,” she said. “I think for us, you have to keep in mind that if we keep creating chances in the right area, making as many passes as possible in the box, touching as many balls as possible in that area, those goals will come. I’m sure of that.”
News Source : www.espn.com
Gn sports
