The USA coach, Vlatko Andonovski, said it is “insane” to question the passion of his players after they struggled to qualify for the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup.
The defending champions have failed to impress in their three games so far, and were close to being knocked out in Tuesday’s final group match after Portugal hit the post in injury-time of a 0-0 draw.
TV footage showed some US players dancing and laughing at full-time, something which Carli Lloyd, who is working as an analyst for Fox Sports, took exception to.
“I have never witnessed something like that,” said Lloyd, who won two World Cups with the US and was well known for her ruthless mentality on the pitch. “There’s a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family. But to be dancing, to be smiling? I mean, the player of the match was that post. You’re lucky to not be going home right now.”
Lloyd said the team did not appear to be taking the challenge of defending their title seriously.
“I’m just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking it for granted – where winning and training and doing all you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening,” Lloyd said.
"There's a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing and smiling..."@CarliLloyd on the USWNT after the match 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/38zm1eC76r
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 1, 2023
After the match, Andonovski rebutted Lloyd’s accusations while admitting his team need to improve.
“One thing that I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else, and they did everything they could in preparation for this tournament and in every game,” he said. “To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness, the willingness to win, I think it’s insane.
“But I’ve never seen this team step on the field and not try harder and not compete. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels.
“And it’s not like we played well, but we own it. We know it’s not good enough. We know we’re not happy with our performance, but it’s, you know, we qualified for the next round. We’re moving on.”
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Alex Morgan, who was one of the players shown celebrating after the match, admitted the team have issued to resolve. “We’re not happy with the performance we put out there, but at the same time, we’re moving on,” Morgan said.
Some believe that the US do not have a squad to compete at this World Cup, with many players either too young or too old to make their mark. Andonovski said he is confident in the talent at his disposal.
“It’s not like we don’t have the pieces. It’s not like we have not done this before against good opponents. Like I said before the game, we have to stick to our principles, we have to stick to our game model, and we have to stick to our philosophy,” he said.
“We’ve executed our principles on both sides of the ball, offensively or defensively, against very good opponents with the group of players that we have here and I have no doubt that we can execute it with players going forward.”
Megan Rapinoe admitted her nerves had been frayed when Portugal hit the post in the final moments of the game.
“That was stressful,” she said. “Right at the end, yeah, that’s stressful … my whole international career is over [if Portugal had scored] and it’s like, it’s terrible. It’s stressful.”
The US finished second in their group behind the Netherlands and are now likely to face in-form Sweden, who beat them in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympics. The US have never failed to reach the semi-finals in World Cup history.