USWNT is advancing in the Olympics but needs a new approach to be a gold medal contender in Tokyo

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With one minute remaining in the Group G final of the Olympic women’s soccer tournament between the United States women’s team and Australia, the Tokyo Games broadcast a truncated broadcast of Alex Morgan on the bench. She stared at the stadium and shook her head, “No.” That small moment summed up how the USWNT finished team play at the Olympics, reaching the quarter-finals after a 0-0 draw on Tuesday at Kashima Football Stadium.

In the end, the job was done for the Americans. After a shaky start as Sweden beat them 3-0, clear doubts began to creep in. Not only may the United States not reach their sixth game for the gold medal, but they may even be liable to be knocked out of the group. They recovered well with a 6-1 win over New Zealand, but Tuesday’s draw with Australia was a step back, even if it was all they needed to advance.

– Match schedule and women’s soccer arc – Olympic medals tracker | Schedule

“We came with the mentality that the first goal was to win the match and the second goal is to perform well professionally and not score a goal,” said coach Vlatko Andonovsky. “We didn’t do the first, but we did the second, which is very important because it eventually put us in the same place.”

A quiet, point-free outing isn’t an inspiring way for the USWNT to advance to the Olympics knockout stage, but there are no style points in football – they’ve progressed, and that’s the important thing. Now, here’s a look at other takeaways:

USA coach Vlatko Andonovsky’s conservative style has led the team to the quarter-finals, but they’re not playing like the gold contenders yet. Associated Press/Fernando Vergara plays USA’s worst Olympic group stage in 25 years

With Tuesday’s result, it is the first time a USWNT team has not won their group at the Olympics since women’s football was added to the games back in 1996. Even when the Americans lost their opening game at the 2008 Olympics, they managed to pass their group before winning. gold. In the World Cup play, the USWNT failed to win its group only once, in 2011.

Now, the Americans must face a more difficult path as they face the Netherlands, the team they faced in the 2019 World Cup, or Brazil, one of the always favorites in the major competitions. Certainly not the path that the players or coach Andonovsky envisioned.

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This is unfamiliar territory for the USWNT, and no one will feel more pressure than Andonovsky, who has consistently worn a nervous look on his face at press conferences for his first time on the job. It’s his first major tournament as an international coach, and it showed. He didn’t want the USWNT to play the usual way against Australia, asking for a more conservative approach – it was either a shrewd tactical decision or a lack of confidence in his team to play the aggressor. The knockout stage will be impressive.

After all, the players were here before – many of them were in the team that lost in the group stage of the 2011 World Cup to Sweden and finished second in the group. This team, the only one who did not top the Women’s World Cup group, reached the final of the World Cup, falling only in penalty shootouts. They will know they can beat the slow start, but will Andonovsky share that belief and allow them to play to their strengths?

USWNT never looked the same… again

The United States should have scored in the eighth minute. Morgan broke free after winning the ball in midfield and found herself in one-on-one confrontation with Australian goalkeeper Tejan Mika. But when she got to the set, she was completely alone, and no one ran to her side in that counterattack. Her shot went straight to Micah. This was a recurring theme throughout the evening in Kashima: the Americans seemed to be holding back rather than flying forward and playing very hard, as they often do.

Perhaps it was because a draw was all the USA needed to grab a place in the quarter-finals. But the biggest reason was probably the presence of Sam Kerr, the striker who scored three of Australia’s four goals in his first two matches, and the player who won the Golden Boot award in leagues on three different continents. It is not recommended to leave it a chance to counterattack. But for Kerr’s threat in transition, the USWNT can be just as deadly, especially against an Australian team with a weak defensive line. However, the United States has often been slow moving forward.

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“The only thing that surprised me a little bit was that they were passive in pressure,” said Australia coach Tony Gustafson, who was USWNT’s assistant coach when they won the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. “I used to see them as very aggressive. I think they are two teams that respect the space behind them.”

The few times the Americans had the numbers advantage in moving forward, they seemed impulsive and unwilling to use interaction to beat the Australian defence. Take Kristen Press’s breakup in the 55th minute – she never looked for the trailing runners behind her, as she headed straight for goal and shot straight at Mika.

At the post-game press conference, when Andonnovsky was asked if it would be difficult to ask the USWNT to “request it again” and play more conservatively, Morgan smiled, as if to admit it’s not the way the USWNT likes to play. But Andonovsky said he was happy: “It’s not difficult – I would say it was a good opportunity for me to see if the team was ready to take the information they got and implement it.”

However, a 0-0 draw was certainly not the desired outcome, and the American players could not be satisfied with it. Since the USWNT opened the Olympics with a loss to Sweden – whether it shook their confidence or revealed something that was already there – Americans haven’t looked the same since.

Alex Morgan Although she led the United States to the fore, her goal was not allowed. Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images VAR Strikes: Olympic Edition

Despite all of the USWNT’s struggles on Tuesday, it would be unfair not to admit that the game should have changed after the half hour mark. In a corner kick, Alex Morgan climbed into the middle of the penalty area, hit a flat-footed Australian defense, and nodded with the ball into the back of the net.

The referee called it offside and the VAR confirmed the decision, despite the fact that the replay clearly showed Morgan’s shoulder was even with last defender Emily Van Egmond (and Morgan’s foot was behind Van Egmond as well). If Morgan was really offside, it would take a magnifying glass to see him, and the judges seemed more interested in the fact that Morgan’s body position was leaning more forward, even though she was even with the last defender.

Regardless, the Americans should have taken the trust from that moment on, and they had another hour to try to score again, but they didn’t.

The women’s tournament should be expanded

With the second half going without a goal and the players feeling heavy legs, both sides seemed to get the idea that a 0-0 draw wouldn’t be so bad, so maybe they should stop running trying to score.

For the Americans, a tie was enough to secure their place in the quarter-finals. For Matildas, a tie still leaves them with a chance because some third-place teams with lower goal difference will go ahead, and a goalless draw will probably be fine.

The Olympic women’s soccer tournament has only 12 teams, even if the men’s tournament has 16, it’s time to expand it. If two teams decide that a 0-0 tie is acceptable does not prove that to the IOC, what will happen?

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