Last week was full of both goodbyes and hellos for the U.S. women’s national team. The team feted World Cup winners Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe in their respective farewell games and welcomed M.A. Vignola and Mia Fishel in their first appearances for the senior team. But overall, this September camp has resembled a holding pattern while U.S. Soccer determines who will guide the team moving forward long-term after head coach Vlatko Andonovski departed the team in August.
USWNT captain Lindsey Horan noted after the first friendly against South Africa on Thursday that it was “really tough” to navigate the current state of the team.
“I think (interim head coach) Twila (Kilgore) is doing a really good job because it’s a tough role for her as well. You want to go out, still teach stuff with the team learning, still move forward, and push this program in the right way. And we have the Olympics in one year’s time. So we don’t want to lose time.”
Ahead of the second match this window, U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker, alongside president Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO JT Batson, provided a high-level update on that coaching search.
“I am really happy with where we are with the search,” Crocker said. “We have an unbelievably diverse pool of exciting candidates….
