USWNT Head Coach Resigns After Team’s Worst Run At World Cup

Summary:

• NY Times reports that Vlatko Andonovski will not continue as head coach for the U.S Women’s National Team
• His resignation is not a surprise after the U.S Women’s National team were eliminated in the R16
• New head coach expected to be named before the end of 2023

The U.S Women’s National team went into the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as the defending champions and favorites to lift the trophy once again. However, they performed poorly and did not look like World Champions, eventually exiting the tournament in the R16.

When a top football team underperforms, especially in a major tournament like the FIFA World Cup, it usually ends up with the head coach resigning or getting sacked. The NY Times reports that head coach Vlatko Andonovski has now decided to move on and the U.S. Soccer Federation will make an official announcement soon.

Mutual Decision For Andonovski To Move On

Once the U.S Women’s National team returned home, a review was carried out by the U.S. Soccer Federation into what went wrong at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Players, coaching staff and Vlatko Andonovski were spoken to for their views and feedback.

Andonovski who took up his role as head coach in 2019 was contracted to be head coach till the end of the year. However, both Andonovski and the U.S. Soccer Federation agreed that it was in the best interests for everyone for him to move on.

Andonovski took over the role as head coach from Jill Ellis who had a very successful tenure with the U.S Women’s National team leading them to two consecutive FIFA World Cup wins in 2015 and 2019. Andonovski had a pretty decent record with the team (51-5-9) but his record in major tournaments was unimpressive (3-2-5).

There are also discussions over the future of Kate Markgraf‘s, the general manager for the U.S Women’s National team.

New Head Coach Likely To Be Appointed By End Of 2023

U.S. Soccer Federation will now look at potential candidates who will replace Andonovski. For now, they are likely to use assistant coach Twila Kilgore as an interim coach for their two friendly matches on Sep 21 and 24 against South Africa.

The NY Times reported that Kansas City Current are likely to hire Andonovski as their new manager!