The overall label for sports news over the weekend would have to be “subsidence” or “collapse” or maybe even “disintegration”. Two major stories of that sort dominated the sports landscape and the one that was noted globally was the loss by the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) in the Women’s World Cup in the Round of 16. That is the earliest elimination for a USWNT since 1991 when FIFA initiated a women’s tournament. In the eight previous tournaments, the US women finished third or better every time. The hype going into this tournament was that there could be a “three-peat” for the women and that had never been done before.
Last week, I said that the women had made it to the Knockout Round but had not looked anything like impressive in their Group Stage games. The team played better against Sweden but never put the ball in the net – the same thing that plagued them in Group Stage games. Consider:
- This USWNT – – seeking a “three-peat” don’t you know – – scored a total of 4 goals in 4 games and 3 of them came against the team from Vietnam, a team that really did not belong in the tournament in the first place.
- The USWNT closed out its 4-game appearance in this year’s Women’s World Cup on a goal drought that lasted for 238 minutes.
The USWNT roster will change dramatically soon; ten players on the roster are 30 years old or older. Megan Rapinoe has already announced her retirement from professional soccer and while some of the other veteran players may choose to continue competing, they are not likely to be around much past the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris – – if they make it to that competition. And, of course, there will be those who pin the blame for this underachievement on the coach, Vlatko Andonovski, ignoring the patently obvious fact that he never appeared on the pitch for even a moment in the tournament.
What happened to cause this seeming catastrophe? I have no interest in trying to read the minds of the players and I will not try to do a mass psychological assessment of the team from afar and without the requisite knowledge even to attempt such an undertaking. I think the root cause of the relatively early ouster for this year’s USWNT is this:
- The world has caught up to the US. In previous World Cup tournaments, the USWNT won the cup 4 times and medaled in every tournament based on having a greater number of elite athletes on the squad. Looking at their games this year against Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden, the US women are no longer clearly better athletes because those teams have gotten better.
In no way should anyone take that assessment as a negative statement about the USWNT; rather, it is a compliment for women’s soccer programs and progress around the world. The USWNT set a high standard for performance in women’s soccer and plenty of other countries have chosen to take on the challenge of meeting that standard. Next year’s Olympic competition should be very interesting viewing.
[Aside: The USWNT has won a medal in every Women’s World Cup Tournament and in every Olympics save for the 2016 Olympics and this year’s Women’s World Cup. In both of those events, they were eliminated by Sweden on penalty kicks. Cue Rod Serling …]
This situation – – where the world catches up to a standard set by the US – – should not be a total surprise to sports fans. For years, the US dominated men’s basketball so thoroughly that the US sent teams of collegians to play against much older competition and won just about all the time. By the late 80’s the rest of the world had progressed to the point where its adults were better than our college players and that led to the US putting the “Dream Team” out on display. The Dream Team showed that the world still had a way to go to match up against the best pro players, but the fact of world improvement was clear to anyone who watched the competitions.
Look today at the state of men’s basketball here in the US. In our NBA, I would argue that 4 of the top players in the NBA today are “foreigners” who learned to play and honed their skills outside the US:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Luka Doncic
- Joel Embid
- Nikola Jokic
If Victor Wembanyama lives up to 80% of his hype, he will join that list of 4 dominant foreign basketball players. The world does not produce the same quantity of top basketball players as does the US in 2023, but we should recognize that the best players from “over there” have the talent and the ability to compete and to excel in the modern NBA. The world caught up to the US in men’s basketball and I believe that has also happened in women’s soccer.
So, what’s next for the USWNT? As I said above, the coach will take some heat for this “embarrassment”. With the Olympic competition less than a year in the future, it might be difficult for a new coach to take over a team that will likely have significant roster changes. Coach Andonovski is on a hot seat to be sure.
As noted above, the current roster is dominated by veteran players. The overseers of US women’s soccer need to be sure that there is a pipeline of similar talent coming up through the levels of US women’s soccer to replace retirees. Maybe player development for future USWNT squads will need to include sending some youngsters to Europe where women’s soccer is a year-round undertaking. Practice makes perfect …
The way the USWNT has dominated the sport in the past has been by scoring lots of goals with an attacking and finishing style of play. This year’s team attacked but rarely finished. I will not pretend to have figured out the key that will unlock that “finishing potential” for the women in next year’s Olympics – – but someone who knows more about soccer strategy and tactics than I do had better figure that out quickly.
I said at the start that there were two stories from the weekend about “collapse”. The other one involves the disintegration of the PAC-12 into the PAC-4. That will be the lead topic in tomorrow’s rant.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Ten USWNT players are 30 years old or older?
Can you spell “r-e-b-u-i-l-d?”