Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Not much has changed for the United States women’s national team since its historic exit in the Round of 16 at the 2023 World Cup nearly three months ago.
The U.S. stumbled through the group stage of that World Cup looking more like a team happy (and lucky) to get out of the group rather than a team aiming to threepeat. The Americans improved against Sweden. But only enough to play 120 scoreless minutes before losing a penalty shootout.
Since then, they have been in a holding pattern. Vlatko Andonovski resigned as head coach. A new coach still needs to be hired. Twila Kilgore was on the sidelines on Thursday for her third game as interim coach, a scoreless draw against Colombia.
Thursday in Sandy, Utah, felt a lot like July in Auckland, New Zealand, as the U.S. struggled to connect passes or solve pressure, instead settling for fleeting moments of individual play after the ball progressed too slowly to let it do the work. The symptoms are not new, but that is exactly the point.
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