Report: USWNT Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski Planning To Resign
According to a report, Vlatko Andonovski the head coach of the United States Women's National Team plans to step down following the team's underwhelming performance at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
According to 90min, sources claim that the coach will announce his resignation in the coming days. They also claim that Andonovski's current contract was set to run out at the end of the year and that the expectation was for a new coach to take over.
The 46-year-old coach took over the reins of the USWNT in 2019 after his predecessor, Jill Ellis, led the team to a World Cup title the same year.
Since taking over, Andonovski posted a 51-5-9 record, which is solid by any metric except for the one a lot of people use to judge the success of the USWNT: World Cup performance.
Considering the expectations that always meet the USWNT on the World Cup stage, 2023 was an unmitigated disaster.
A sub-par group stage performance — which features a win over Vietnam and draws against the Netherlands and Portugal — lead to a Round of 16 meeting with Sweden, which the U.S. lost on penalty kicks.
This team wasn't as offensively potent as previous teams were. Then, their demeanor when it was clear there were issues drew sharp criticism.
There was also that pesky "likability" problem that wasn't as prevalent in previous years.
Andonovski defended his players against criticism during the tournament. That was probably the right thing to do in that situation. However, someone had to take the fall for the team's total failure.
It looks like that is going to be Andonovski.
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