USWNT chief Andonovski warns ‘no room for error’ against Sweden
Melbourne, Australia — United States Women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski and forward Alex Morgan said on Saturday that they have to be better Sweden in the round of 16, surpassing the country’s worst-ever Group Stage performance at the Women’s World Cup.
“It’s the knockout stages and there’s no room for error, so we have to be ready to do our best in this game,” said Andonovski.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (USA)
The USWNT only won one of their group games against Vietnam before drawing to both Netherlands And Portugal as they slowly broke away from their group. Prior to this tournament, they had never won fewer than two games or emerged from the group with fewer than six points.
“We broke down what went wrong,” Morgan said. “How do we fix that on ball and off ball – how do we take the chances we have in front of goal, how do we create more chances, how do I convert the chances that are given to me.”
The Americans meet world no. At the last World Championship in 2019, the USWNT defeated Sweden in the group stage.
“What happened against Sweden in the past is a thing of the past,” said Morgan. “We obviously take a lot of things away in terms of their playstyle and the way you break them down, but I don’t think there’s any feelings towards the games we’ve played against them in the past that we do bring tomorrow.”
The USA will do without a midfielder Rose Lavelle, who started the tournament with a minute limit and came on as a substitute in USA’s first two games. Andonovski had said Lavelle changed games when she came in, but after starting in the last game of the group stage and receiving a second yellow card, she is ineligible to play against Sweden.
said Andonovski Savannah DeMelo And Ashley Sanchez can take on the role of attacking midfielder but he declined to say who would take her place, saying: “We’ll have to see what fits our game plan best.”
“Rose is a great player – one of the best players in the world – and if we don’t have her, there’s definitely going to be a change in the way we approach the game,” said Andonovski. “At the same time, we have a wide range of players who are here for a reason, for moments like this, and are ready to step in.”
