By Juan Carlos Maygua
The SheBelievesCup concluded with a “perfect” performance by the USWNT with a 6-0 victory over Argentina. Thus, keeping an undefeated and perfect record in this year’s edition of the tournament. In a night that could truly be labeled as “legendary”, the team displayed all of its power and reminded everyone why they are the best in the world.
A night of legends
While the scoreline suggests that the game was another dominant win for the National team, it showcased the unity, commitment, and determination to achieve success. Megan Rapione became the leading scorer in the tournament after her two goals. Christen Press scored once again, continuing her streak from the previous game, Carly Lloyd followed the same footsteps and gave a signal that she is more than ready for a final show at the Olympics this summer. Although, the last player who saved the best for last was Alex Morgan, who scored after having trouble in the last two games. The performance by the USWNT ended the inconsistency concerns throughout the tournament, and while no names have been given in regards to the Olympics, Rapione, Morgan, Lloyd, and Press are said to be the backbone of the team that will go to Japan this summer.
Tactical victory
Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski spoke about the tactical difficulties that the team could face against Argentina. The plan was to use the wide areas and build up attacking plays from there while evading transit in the midfield. It’s safe to say that the plan worked to near perfection, and at one point they used Argentina’s tactics to maintain control. Rose Lavelle was key in the right-wing, her one-on-one abilities and vision in that part of the field was too much to handle for the Argentinian defense. This helped the team create enough chances to open the score and dominate the game early from the first half. They created pressure in the midfield to cut off any passing possibility.
In the second half, the setup changed after both Rapino and Lavelle were substituted. This made the team lose offensive power, but it gave more emphasis to the midfield and defensive lines. It allowed Argentina to have the ball, but nothing serious derived from that change. In summary, Andonovski displayed an excellent tactical setup, so much that Argentina chose to commit fouls to cut out the domination from the National team. Overall, it was great to see the team play fluently and obtain another trophy for their cabinet.
The work continues
Rose Lavelle and Alex Morgan spoke on their performances and what they are aiming for soon. Lavelle emphasized how the team focused to finish the plays, “We were aware that we had to be more clinical and clean up those pieces from the last two games. The difference was that today we went out and capitalized on the chances we had”. The importance of a competitive environment helped the team play more fluently and efficiently. “We are happy whenever we’re in camp, being in a competitive mode helps us aim for the trophy. It’s a nice feeling so hopefully we can keep doing that moving forward”. I had the opportunity to ask Lavelle how she felt about the idea of becoming the next symbol of the national team after her performances throughout the tournament. “The main strength of this team is that we don’t rely on a single player. I think there are a lot of amazing players coming up with this system that are going to have a big impact on the team, hopefully, I can continue to contribute to that growth”. In one aspect, thinking collectively does help the team, but from an individual point of view, Lavelle has enough potential to become a superstar. In contrast, Alex Morgan spoke about the upcoming roster decisions that could be made heading to the Olympics in the summer. “It’s extremely difficult to go from a World Cup Roster of 23 to an Olympic roster of 18. Also, there have been more players added so he (Andonovski) has an incredibly difficult job to do coming up. He’s looking at more players. I’m glad I got some time to get significant minutes in this tournament and get to score after a year and a half. Overall, I’m happy to be back on the team. It’s also nice to get to know the new team members as well.”. Morgan also dismissed any possibilities of playing abroad after reaffirming that she will stay in Orlando this season.
The Olympics are the next big goal for the USWNT. Head coach Vlatko Andonovski addressed the importance of looking at the competition before the upcoming challenge. “Any games that happen in women’s soccer our scouting and analytics department go through it very detailed. They break it down so we can also analyze them and be prepared to face them in upcoming competitions”. Last but not least he pointed out that the roster selection was still an ongoing process, “It will mainly come down to how physically fit they are when the moment comes, but there are a lot of aspects that they need to fulfill to be considered”. I close this column highlighting his undefeated record as a manager of the USWNT since taking over in 2019. The team looks in great shape and I have no doubts that this group of players will bring home the gold in the upcoming Olympic games.