USWNT coach candidates to replace Andonovski after World Cup

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Step one for the U.S. Soccer Federation may be to fire coach Vlatko Andonovski, who led the U.S. women’s national team to a worst-ever round-of-16 exit at the Women’s World Cup. There have been no announcements yet, but it seems pretty inevitable based on the stated expectations from Andonovski himself and the executives at U.S. Soccer.

But step two is the hard part: selecting a replacement. There is a very limited number of coaches in the world with the experience and track record to take a job as high-profile and as challenging as coaching the No. 1-ranked USWNT. (Arguably, that’s where U.S. Soccer went wrong with Andonovski, who may not have been qualified in the first place.)

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While the pool of qualified candidates is small, it’s made even smaller by the fact that not every coach U.S. Soccer wants will be available. Good coaches tend to be employed more often than they aren’t, and they aren’t always willing to abandon projects they’ve started just because a new team comes calling.

With that in mind, ESPN’s Caitlin Murray, Jeff Carlisle and Sophie Lawson take a look at some of the potential managers U.S. Soccer could…