The U.S. women’s national team has a short amount of time to prepare for the 2024 Olympics – just nine months – and one thing that players have said they know will help is a connection in the locker room.
Speaking after Thursday’s 0-0 draw with Colombia, veteran defender Becky Sauerbrunn has noticed is that the team is at its most successful when everyone is “so connected.”
“You feel like you’ve got options and availability,” she said.
On the flip side, the team struggles when players feel “isolated and alone” on the field.
“When we struggle is when everyone feels isolated and alone and they basically have to pass on the isolation to another player,” she said. “And that player has to do something amazing to break the pressure.”
Instead, she said, players should “be able to use one another to break the pressure.”
Despite the scoreless draw with Colombia, players have been feeling a bit more freedom to find those connections, as witnessed in the previous two matches against South Africa — a 2-0 win and a 3-0 win.
Speaking on the latest episode of “Snacks,” midfielder Savannah DeMelo said the group got comfortable around one another in the September friendlies. But both DeMelo and Lynn Williams agreed that more freedom in play will help grow those connections.
“I just thought in the last two games [against South Africa] — I mean, I only played in the second game — but I just felt like we all played more free, and we had a structure,” DeMelo said. “But then Twila allowed us to do what makes us special within that structure. I even think of you, Lynn — you were able to do what you do that makes you special. And I think it just allowed us to play more freely and confidently.
“So I think moving forward, just allowing us to do that and have consistency, whether it’s who we play with, the training, I think that is going to help us just because of the tight turnaround.”
Williams agreed, noting that there had been more “communication on the field” because players felt like they could go back to doing what makes them great.
“There was so much more communication on the field of like, ‘What can you do to help me?’ ‘How can we solve this problem?’” Williams said. “I don’t know if it was happening at the World Cup as much. I just felt like it was way more free.”
And as the team finds its next head coach and finds some stability, that will hopefully get better and players will continue to find those connections.
“I think at times we feel like we’re on an island,” Sauerbrunn said. “When we’re at our best, there’s people around, we’re bopping, we’re moving. And we can do the isolations when we need because we have amazing outside attacking players and central players. But I really think the connection will bring us back to the success that we’ve had.”
The U.S. women’s national team kicked off their October friendly series on Thursday with a choppy 0-0 draw with 2023 World Cup quarterfinalists Colombia. The two-game series will likely serve as the final international break before U.S. Soccer names a permanent coach after the departure of Vlatko Andonovski in August.
If the USWNT’s September games against South Africa were the closing of one chapter in the team’s history, Thursday’s game suggested a reluctance to begin writing a new era. The balance between steady cohesion and progress from a disappointing 2023 World Cup could be tipping too far in one direction, which is both understandable and worrying with limited time to regroup for the 2024 Olympics.
Fans looking for greater freedom of movement from the team’s veterans were disappointed this week. And while the U.S. ably contained Colombia superstar Linda Caicedo, their emphasis on defense over exciting attacking interplay made them look like a team that’s treading water before their real boss arrives in December.
The U.S. walked away with a result on Thursday night in Utah, but they still don’t look like the world-beaters they’d like to become once again. So, where do the biggest issues lie?
Keeping the band together
The USWNT’s starting XI against Colombia was completely made up of players from the 2023 World Cup roster, with only two changes from the team’s Round of 16 match to replace the departed Julie Ertz and the recovering Sophia Smith. Despite bringing in new faces in September and October, interim manager Twila Kilgore seemed more interested in continuing to build chemistry with the veterans than taking the risk of implementing new personnel.
Eighteen-year-old midfielder Olivia Moultrie did not dress for the match, and teenage compatriot Jaedyn Shaw was only given three minutes in regulation in her USWNT debut. The team’s first substitute was 38-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn at halftime, followed by longtime bubble defender Casey Krueger.
Savannah DeMelo replaced Andi Sullivan in the second half, which gave the U.S. more of an attacking outlook for the rest of the match, but once again they took a pragmatic approach to player development. Defensive midfielder Sam Coffey again sat out the entirety of the match, and Ashley Sanchez has struggled to see the field after Andonovski dropped her down the depth chart at the World Cup.
There’s something to be said about letting this group of USWNT veterans find their way without Rapinoe and Ertz, and they have work to do before any prospective coach can even begin to blow up the current project. There were also positives: Lynn Williams and Trinity Rodman brought defensive tenacity and danger on the dribble from the wings, and the team’s defense-by-committee approach rendered Colombia’s attack largely inert in the second half.
a lil bit of Trin Trickery 🪄 pic.twitter.com/DPcwhhAEMh
— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 27, 2023
But for a team that increasingly feels like it has nothing to lose by trying out a few new faces in the well-worn system, the U.S. played to get a result instead of allowing Colombia to force the next generation of players to sink or swim. The USWNT has acknowledged it will take bravery to keep up with the rest of the world, and the pragmatic approach left something to be desired.
Andonovski-esque tactics
For the fourth game in a row, the USWNT lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with two defensive midfielders and Lindsey Horan in the most attacking midfield role. Sullivan and Emily Sonnett again sat in a double-pivot, maintaining the strategy that helped the team look their best in their World Cup exit.
The double-pivot started as an antidote to many of the team’s problems at the end of the Andonovski era, but there’s mounting evidence that it is now their poison. The U.S. didn’t have many creative playmakers on the field at any given time, sitting off the ball in the first half to contain Colombia’s explosive attack and move in quick transition after forcing turnovers.
The approach almost paid off in the first half, when a quick turnover forced by Williams turned into a scoring chance for Alex Morgan, who sent it right to the goalkeeper. But it also meant that the USWNT spent much of the first half chasing the game. Disconnected passing through the midfield yielded poor turnovers. And while the defense recovered well to snuff out the Colombia attack, the U.S. was not fully in control of the game, outside of a period of momentum in the second half after the attacking-minded DeMelo came on for Sullivan.
In short, the USWNT’s performance felt reminiscent of the way they played under Andonovski. Kilgore has espoused the importance of building off the team’s performance against Sweden in the World Cup Round of 16, but that performance similarly resulted in a 0-0 draw. A number of the team’s creative players have been relegated to the bench, with an overemphasis on progressing the ball up the wings to send it into the penalty area.
Not unlike during the World Cup, better finishing would have papered over other issues, but U.S. players have not shaken off their inconsistency in front of goal. Morgan’s scoreless stretch for the USWNT has now reached a 10th game, punctuated by a penalty miss in the first half. A number of other players settled for shots into traffic from distance late in the game rather than remaining patient in possession.
Alex Morgan is denied from the spot by the post ❌
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 27, 2023
Watch USA vs. Colombia live on TBS or Max 📺 pic.twitter.com/9iWydIIanN
There are logical reasons for many of the USWNT’s struggles: They haven’t had much of a break since the World Cup, they don’t have a permanent coach, and many of them are in the middle of playoffs with their club teams. But with the Gold Cup and the Olympics looming, a match without new ideas against a quality opponent feels like a wasted opportunity.
Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.
Gotham FC players are trusting the process — and heading to the NWSL semifinals while doing so.
After Sunday’s 2-0 win against the North Carolina Courage, forward Midge Purce was asked by CBS Sports what the milestone meant to her. Gotham FC never before had won an NWSL playoff game. But Purce kept it simple.
“It means we’re going to the semis. I don’t think it’s anything more than that,” she said. “We love what it means, we love what it is and we’re here to play.”
Gotham FC turned in solid defensive performance from top to bottom. Purce led the team with seven duels won, while defender Ali Krieger and midfielder Maitane Lopez each had 16 possessions won.
Lynn Williams, meanwhile, had an assist, won three tackles, and also contributed an interception and a clearance. That might sound like a lot of defense for a forward – and it is.
“We have a lot of defensive responsibilities, more than I’d like as a forward,” Purce said. “But I’m committed to the process and the process works. We love it. We defend as 11, we attack as 11. It’s a huge team win and I’m really proud of everyone.”
And Purce’s teammates agree.
“I think our defensive effort was outstanding as a team,” said midfielder Yazmeen Ryan, who had the team’s second goal of the night on an assist from Williams. “Everybody was tracking back. Everybody was getting back and doing their roles and that’s so crucial in the way that we play and it’s what led to the second goal for sure. And so I think overall our defensive effort and our willingness to get back and then get forward in transition was outstanding.”
Gotham FC players have one goal in the 2023 NWSL playoffs: Win a title for Ali Krieger.
A two-time World Cup champion, Krieger is seeking her first NWSL title in her final season. That goal has motivated her teammates all season long as they have gone from finishing last in the league in 2022 to a playoff berth in 2023.
The team “squeaked” into the playoffs with the sixth and final spot, Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams said on the latest episode of Just Women’s Sports‘ “Snacks” podcast, with their berth contingent on the Orlando Pride’s result. But ultimately, the Pride couldn’t overcome the two-goal differential needed to surpass Gotham FC in the standings.
“It was a pretty special moment for that,” Williams said of the team learning they were into the postseason. “We’re throwing Krieger in the air, the fans are still in the stands so they’re celebrating too. It was a very cool moment to be a part of.”
Williams was not shy about how “crazy” the end of the regular season was. But while players are “exhausted,” she said, they’re turning to their captain Krieger for motivation as they enter the playoffs.
“This part of the season is so crazy. Like, you’re exhausted, you’ve been going basically since January,” she said. “But it’s also a moment where you just have to get over it and start improving and increasing the intensity. You’re mentally and physically drained, there are a lot of players who have knocks and nicks and all these things.
“I think we are using Krieger’s career as our motivation. Obviously people have other motivations too, but she’s never won an NWSL Championship. We want to let her retire on such a high note. We just want to win so bad. Like, why else play if you don’t want to win?”
As Krieger prepares for the playoffs and for retirement, she is balancing turmoil in her personal life, as her wife Ashlyn Harris filed for divorce in September. Yet Krieger is receiving support from family, friends and fellow players, as she shared in a tribute to all of them on Instagram.
Her teammates are sending that love back to her.
“Ali Krieger is a beast. She is the standard, she’s everything, a legend, and she showed that through and through tonight,” Gotham FC midfielder Yazmeen Ryan said. “Very much, by far the player of the match, player of the season for us. Our captain. We couldn’t have done it without her.”
NWSL Decision Day was a nerve-racking day for everyone involved, fans and players alike, as Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams shared on the most recent episode of their “Snacks” podcast for Just Women’s Sports.
Mewis, who is out for the season with a knee injury, tried to “watch three games at a time.” All 12 teams played simultaneously Sunday, with four playoff spots up for grabs on the final day of the season.
“I did the TV, iPad, phone situation. I mainly was watching the Gotham-Kansas City game, that was my main focus of the day,” she said. Mewis is under contract with the Current, while her sister Kristie plays for Gotham FC.
“But I also had the NC-Spirit game up for a little bit, especially at the end … So I was trying to watch all the games. They all had implications on each other.”
While Williams was on the field for Gotham FC, her injured teammate Kristie Mewis told her that both she and Kelley O’Hara were pacing around in their box as they watched their teammates fight to the finish. Mewis and O’Hara both were sidelined with lower leg injuries for the 2-2 draw, which clinched a playoff berth for their team.
“All I know is Kristie was telling me when they were watching upstairs, ‘We just kept moving all over the place,’ and she was like a nervous wreck,” Williams said.
Sam Mewis called the movement of the table “wild.” Ultimately, Gotham FC finished in sixth place, while Angel City FC finished in fifth.
“I watched you guys go from No. 3 to No. 6 because Angel City scored a fourth goal,” she said. “Or Orlando’s? It was wild, I don’t even know what happened.”
“There’s a funny video of Kelley outside screaming at us in the box,” Williams said. “And all of a sudden, they forced her to go inside because she had to watch by herself because she was all out of sorts watching. So they were like, ‘Get inside. We can’t handle you right now.’”
Before the 2023 NWSL season began, the Kansas City Current looked ready to build on their run to the 2022 NWSL championship game. The team that made it all the way to the final before falling to the Portland Thorns used the offseason to add depth and looked poised to become the favorites in most matchups, rather than the plucky underdogs.
What happened instead was that the Current became the first team to be eliminated from 2023 playoff contention, likely to finish in either 11th or 12th after the final weekend of the season. A run to the Challenge Cup semifinals notwithstanding (and the organization’s continuously impressive attendance numbers), the season was a disappointment for a team that openly wants to contend for every trophy the NWSL offers.
Was the Current’s problem bad luck or execution? Or were their offseason moves just not as strong as many (myself included) believed? Let’s dive in.
The Lynn Williams trade
In one of the biggest moves of the offseason, Kansas City traded Lynn Williams to Gotham FC in January for the second pick in the 2023 NWSL draft. With the selection, the Current took 20-year-old Michelle Cooper, who was fresh off a standout sophomore season at Duke. The move shocked many, including Williams herself, but the Current had opted for a younger prospect with Williams coming off a long-term hamstring injury.
It’s not fair to directly compare a young NWSL rookie with a veteran counterpart, but Kansas City certainly missed Williams’ output in 2023. In all competitions, Williams has averaged a personal xG of 0.39 per game, scoring nine goals and registering two assists between the regular season and the Challenge Cup. Cooper, while a longer-term project, averaged a personal xG of 0.27 in all competitions, scoring four goals and notching two assists.
Williams also proved to be a distinctly important player in Gotham’s pressing system, immediately making an impact in new manager Juan Carlos Amorós’ style of play that favors one of the best defensive attackers in the league. The 30-year-old looked as comfortable as ever coming back from injury, adjusting to her role at center forward very quickly.
Cooper grew into her season, with an impressive commitment to team defending, and she’ll likely continue to develop into a clinical finisher. But the Current did not see the dividends of their major trade in the same way that Gotham benefitted in 2023.
Free agency fitness struggles
Few teams walked away from the 2023 offseason with more excitement than the Current, who were very ambitious in both their draft strategy and their free agency pick-ups. Kansas City signed Brazilian midfielder Debinha away from North Carolina, which was widely considered the biggest splash of the NWSL’s first-ever free agency period.
They also signed Vanessa DiBernardo and Morgan Gautrat out of Chicago, picked up Swedish international Hanna Glas and re-signed Canada international Desiree Scott. With NWSL clubs able to shape rosters outside of discovery signings or the college draft for the first time this past year, the Current became a team to beat before games began in 2023.
The season played out much differently, however. The Current struggled mightily with injuries: Debinha had a slow start to the season, and Dibernardo and Gautrat never got consistently healthy. Glas, coming off an ACL injury, has yet to make an appearance for the club. The injury bug also extended to other starters, including defender Elizabeth Ball, whose crucial absence resulted in a steep learning curve for a very young backline early in the season.
Kansas City boasts one of the best training facilities in women’s soccer and likely has many learnings to take into 2024 after failing to meet expectations in their third season of NWSL play.
Commitment to coaching
When Kansas City started the 2023 season 0-3, ownership made the swift decision to dismiss head coach Matt Potter, who had led the team to a surprise championship appearance the prior year. Not unlike the Williams trade, bold decision-making appeared to stem from team owners and general manager Camille Ashton. At the time, Potter’s dismissal was chalked up to results and a “lack of collaboration” when others in the front office tried to right the ship.
Assistant coach Caroline Sjöblom took over as interim manager after Potter’s departure and has been a steady presence, even if the team’s regular season results never got a significant boost from the change. Little has been said about Sjöblom’s candidacy for the permanent position once the season is over, but what has appeared to be a methodical coaching search likely also put a limit on what the team could achieve in 2023.
The team may well make a big hiring splash in the offseason — rumors have long swirled around former USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who won two NWSL Championships as head coach of FC Kansas City and still lives in Kansas City. But firing a head coach three games into a regular season and then riding out the rest of the year with an interim manager could also be perceived as indecision following an impulsive move.
The Current haven’t lost their potential for greatness, having shown a new resilience and reinvigorated offense in recent weeks, including a six-goal output against Chicago last weekend. But they’re also dealing with more upheaval than they could have expected at this point, with an expansion draft approaching. Whether they’ll make slight tweaks or more bold moves remains to be seen.
Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.
The NWSL is holding its first-ever Decision Day, with all 12 teams taking the pitch for six simultaneous matches at 5 p.m. ET Sunday. And with four playoff spots still up for grabs, expect it to live up to the billing.
“Do you think this is the most intense playoff race of all time?” Sam Mewis asked several of her fellow U.S. women’s national team and NWSL stars on the latest episode of Just Women’s Sports‘ “Snacks” podcast.
While the episode was recorded before the penultimate matchweek, the players still offered some prescient insights.
“It’s wild. There’s two games left in the season, and only one team has clinched and only one team has been eliminated,” said OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle, breaking down the state of the race with two games remaining. “It’s crazy.”
“Dun dun duuun!” said Emily Sonnett, chiming in with a sound effect to underline the suspense.
“Snacks” co-host and Gotham FC forward Lynn Williams, who also is in the midst of the playoff race, adding that by the time of the episode’s release, “two teams will have clinched and two teams will be out of the playoffs.”
Williams proved to be exactly right. The Portland Thorns and San Diego Wave are locked into the top two seeds, while the Kansas City Current and the Chicago Red Stars have been eliminated from contention. Eight teams remain in the running for the final four playoff spots, including Gotham FC and OL Reign.
“I think it’s gonna come down to the last game,” Williams said.
With the North Carolina Courage, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC, OL Reign, Orlando Pride, Angel City FC, Racing Louisville FC and Houston Dash all in the hunt, Williams is right. And while the playoff scenarios are complicated, for Gotham FC and OL Reign it could be as simple as: Win and they’re in.
The 2023 Golden Boot race is nearing the finish line, with Portland Thorns forward Sophia Smith holding a one-goal lead over her nearest competitor.
Still, North Carolina Courage forward Kerolin (10 goals) would need a brace to overtake Smith (11 goals), as the reigning league MVP holds the tiebreaker. The final day of the 2023 regular season will decide the playoff and Golden Boot races.
Ahead of decision day, Just Women’s Sports takes a look back at the history of NWSL Golden Boot winners.
2022: Alex Morgan, San Diego Wave, 15 goals
In San Diego’s inaugural season in the NWSL, Morgan put on a show, tallying 15 goals in 17 games. A career-best for the star forward, the total included three braces, plus four goals in one game to tie an NWSL record.
2021: Ashley Hatch, Washington Spirit, 10 goals
Hatch earned the 2021 Golden Boot with just 10 goals in 20 games, the lowest total needed to earn the award in league history. Her 10 goals were a career best, which Hatch has nearly matched with nine goals in 2023.
2019: Sam Kerr, Chicago Red Stars, 18 goals
In 2019, Kerr broke her own single-season goal scoring record with 18 goals, a mark that still stands. She also won her third consecutive scoring title; no other player has won more than once. Kerr still stands alone atop the NWSL with 77 career goals, despite departing for the Women’s Super League after the 2019 season.
2018: Sam Kerr, Chicago Red Stars, 16 goals
Kerr also won the scoring title in 2018, along the way becoming the first player to reach 50 goals in NWSL history. She finished the season with 59.
2017: Sam Kerr, Sky Blue FC, 17 goals
For Kerr’s first of three scoring titles, the Australian phenom set a single-season record that she broke herself two years later. Kerr scored 17 goals in 22 games, none of them on penalty kicks. She also became the first player in NWSL history to reach 50 career points.
2016: Lynn Williams, Western New York Flash, 11 goals
Lynn Williams capped her second NWSL season with the Golden Boot. For the first time in league history, two players atop the goals leaderboard, as Williams and Kealia Ohai Watt both finished with 11. But Williams held the tiebreaker, with five assists to Watt’s four.
2015: Crystal Dunn, Washington Spirit, 15 goals
Dunn had a standout 2015 season, scoring 15 goals to take home the Golden Boot. At 23 years old, she also became the youngest player in league history to take home the league MVP award, a milestone eclipsed by Smith in 2022.
2014: Kim Little, Seattle Reign FC, 16 goals
With 16 goals in 23 games, Little went on scoring tear. From May through June, Little scored a goal in six consecutive games. She had a goal against each NWSL team that season, including five against the Dash.
2013: Lauren Holiday, FC Kansas City, 12 goals
The future Hall of Famer won the inaugural NWSL scoring title with 12 goals for FC Kansas City. She also ranked fourth in shots and shots on goal, registering a goal or an assist in 10 consecutive games. Holiday also was named league MVP in 2013.
Lynn Williams has big goals for the U.S. women’s national team in 2024.
One of those goals is to win Olympic gold. And she believes the USWNT can live up to those lofty expectations at the Summer Games, even coming off a historic Round of 16 exit at the 2023 World Cup.
“We were too talented to end up with the result that we ended up with,” she said of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
Every time the USWNT has failed to win a World Cup title, the team has gone on to win the following Olympic tournament.
“That’s what I want to do,” Williams said on Julie Foudy’s “Laughter Permitted” podcast. “I want to be there and I want to have a gold medal around my neck. That’s what I want.”
The September training camp had a positive energy, Williams said, even without a permanent head coach in place. Vlatko Andonovski resigned after the World Cup, leaving Twila Kilgore to lead the team in the interim. While U.S. Soccer is aiming to have a new coach in place by December, that will leave limited time to prepare for the Paris Olympics, which start next July.
“We’re in a very unique position. We have no coach, the Olympics is a very quick turnaround right now and every camp matters,” she said.
With players scattered across so many club teams, it is imperative that the USWNT is building chemistry with every camp, she added. And she wants to see a permanent head coach — “the sooner the better.”
“I want this team to turn around. I think that you look at the 2016 Olympics to the 2019 World Cup, that’s what I want to see happen,” she said. “I know that was more time in between but, you know, the World Cup didn’t go how we wanted to. But I think we have enough talent and the right players to get the job done at the Olympics.”
Gotham FC could go from worst to first in the NWSL, an astonishing transformation witnessed firsthand by Ifeoma Onumonu.
The 29-year-old forward joined Gotham FC in 2020, and she has played for four different head coaches in her time with the club. Freya Coombe left for Angel City in 2021, then Scott Parkinson was fired following a 4-0-8 (W-D-L) start to the 2022 season. Hue Menzies took over as interim head coach through the end of that season, and Juan Carlos Amorós took the reigns ahead of the 2023.
Under Amorós, the club has gone from a league-worst 4-1-17 record last season to 8-6-6 season. With 30 points, Gotham FC is in third place with two matches left to play, and a chance to surpass the San Diego Wave and Portland Thorns for the NWSL Shield.
“I feel like I’m on a different team every year because every year I’ve been here, it’s been a different coach,” Onumonu said on the latest episode of Just Women’s Sports‘ “Snacks” podcast. “And I think that has been sort of the key is the coaching and the staff in general. I think this is the most staff we’ve ever had. I think obviously the players that we’ve brought in this year is a change too. But I think in culmination with all those things, that’s what’s led to the season that we’ve had as compared to last year.”
From Onumonu’s perspective, 2022 was “just a mess” and was “really hard.” She doesn’t feel like the team was set up for success.
This season, though, the team entered with a clear plan and expectations.
“There’s not this mentality, that underdog mentality, because Gotham/Sky Blue has always been that team that it’s like, ‘Ooh, at the bottom of the table.’ It’s not a secret,” she said. “Like, even before I got here, it was like, very much up and down, up and down, mostly down. … I think the club has grown so much. I think that’s part of the reason why we are where we are now.”
“Snacks” co-host Lynn Williams served as a key offseason addition, and the midseason signing of World Cup champion Esther González provided an additional boost. And the buy-in from all the players is something Williams has noticed in her first year with the club.
“It just seemed like everybody who was here last year said, ‘No, we’re just gonna buy into this, and we want to do better,’” she said. “Because you have not had the success you wanted in prior years. So I don’t know, I just like being on this team.”