Vlatko Andonovski is set to resign as the head coach of the United States women’s national team this week as first reported by Lizzy Becherano and Emily Keogh of 90min.
Let’s be honest here, if he wasn’t resigning then he would surely be getting the boot after leading the USWNT to their worst Women’s World Cup finish in history. The Round of 16 defeat to Sweden on penalty kicks stings, but overall, the campaign was a failure.
In four games (Vietnam, Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden) Vlatko only managed to record one victory, against Vietnam. The rest of the tournament was a headache for fans to watch as Vlatko rarely budged on changing tactics and simply refused to use his substitutions.
Only the post saved the USWNT from not crashing out of the tournament in the group stage. It is 100% time for Vlatko to go.
Vlatko Andonovski resigns
Vlatko Andonovski has resigned as manager of the USWNT, according to multiple sources.
Andonovski took over the team in 2019, achieving a 79% win percentage but coming up short in the 2020 Olympics & 2023 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/7W32E1MD74— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) August 16, 2023
Andonovski was meant to be the successor to Jill Ellis when he was appointed on a four-year contract in 2019. In his tenure the USWNT had a mediocre Olympics in Tokyo where they got bronze and now suffered a devastating World Cup exit.
Of the seven USWNT head coaches that have been in charge for more than 50 games, Andonovski finishes his stint with the second-lowest win percentage (.854) in team history. Only Anson Dorrance, who was in charge from 1984-1994, finished with a lower win percentage (.734).
As much as Andonovski haters would love to put the blame solely on him, he’s not 100% to blame. The world is catching up in women’s soccer. The USWNT can’t skate by with an average or decent coach anymore, they need the best.
A new era of the USWNT is about to begin led by the likes of Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma and more. These women will be some of the best players in the world and they deserve to have a head coach who is among the elite.
Per @relevo, U.S. Soccer has contacted former Barcelona manager Lluís Cortés regarding the USWNT manager position pic.twitter.com/dlmqvGjPVr
— Women’s Transfer News (@womenstransfer) August 16, 2023
@ByDougMcIntyre named his top 10 coach candidates if the USWNT moves on from Vlatko Andonovski
Which candidate would you choose? pic.twitter.com/CNuNXwsHew— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 8, 2023