Although a new chapter of U.S. women’s soccer will officially begin when the team opens CONCACAF Olympic qualifying against Haiti on Tuesday night at BBVA Stadium, many of the players remain the same.
For some of the team’s biggest stars, who return six months after becoming World Cup champions, the greatest adjustments have taken place off the field.
“Honestly, more of the transition is the whole staff changeover. The players are all the same pretty much,” forward and captain Megan Rapinoe said. “We have a new coordinator, a new GM, a new staff and all of that, so that’s been more of the issue. Once we get on the field, that’s easy for us.”
In all fairness to the other 19 players, Rapinoe played for new coach Vlatko Andonovski when he coached her club team, Reign FC, up until last October, when he was named the new national team coach. Thus, she had already grown accustomed to Andonovski’s meticulous approach to the game.
But her teammates have come to develop an appreciation for and confidence in Andonovski’s methods.
“Vlatko’s been awesome,” forward Lynn Williams said. “He’s come in, and it’s like a new fresh start for a lot of people, myself especially.
“He’s working different formations and nitpicking things we need to work on, and he’s saying we’re great right now, but we want to be the best team in the world. Not that we’re not, but we want to pound that in and not let anybody come and try to steal that from us. He’s very picky, but that’s exactly what this team needs.”
Williams wasn’t on the 2019 World Cup roster, but Andonovski added her for the team’s Olympic run. He wanted to utilize her speed and explosiveness to help open up opposing defenses.
“Every team will present different challenges for us,” he said. “We had lots of training in the previous two camps, not enough games, so we’re excited and looking forward to the first game.”
The American women haven’t lost in a year, and that defeat came in an exhibition. They’re expected to qualify for a seventh consecutive Olympics and could win the qualifying tournament for the fifth consecutive time.
“For me personally, first games in a long time, and I think for the team as a whole, with everyone back, it’s been a minute, so it’s probably going to be a little bit rusty, just a little bit off at times,” Rapinoe said. “This is the biggest moment of the year, really. If you don’t go through this, then you don’t get to the other big moment.
“We’re probably expecting most teams to sit in against us, so how do we break that down and be patient while still kind of keeping that bite?”
Players shaken by Kobe’s death
The U.S. women’s team was on the bus back from Sunday’s training session when players’ phones alerted them about the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash.
“It’s tragic, honestly. Heartbreaking,” forward Carli Lloyd said. “The fact that he was heading to his daughter’s basketball game, it’s hard to wrap your head around it. We found out yesterday on the bus when we got on the bus after training, and we thought it was a joke. We thought it was fake news.”
Bryant had been an avid soccer fan dating to his childhood in Italy.
Before Rockets guard James Harden bought a stake in the Houston Dynamo and before Lakers forward LeBron James owned a share of English club Liverpool, Bryant had supported the U.S. women from the stands at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“It’s hard for everyone,” U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “Kobe was a very big proponent of the game, and he was a big supporter of the team and the friend of some of the players on the team.”
Said forward Megan Rapinoe: “I think it pulls us out of sports completely and just out of the team really completely. From a human perspective, a lot of us have known Kobe — a lot of us have met Gigi — and spent a little time with him after games.”
Lloyd recalled her conversations with Bryant and his support for the women’s national team as well as the WNBA. She called him one of her biggest idols, with her reasons stretching beyond Bryant’s championships and accolades.
“It was his mentality,” she said. “Knowing that he had a talent but knowing that he had to outwork everybody and he had to train harder than everybody. And that’s what he did, and he earned every bit of it. I think what’s really sad is seeing him transition from being done with basketball into his next life, and I feel like that was cut way too short for him.
“He was changing the world, he was inspiring, he was giving back, and it almost doesn’t seem fair that someone who was so impactful is gone way too soon. It’s just tragic. My heart goes out to all the lives that were lost.”
2020-01-28 03:28:48Z
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/dynamo/article/U-S-women-s-soccer-notes-Vlatko-Andonovski-15009053.php
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "U.S. women’s soccer notes: Vlatko Andonovski era begins - Houston Chronicle"
Post a Comment