It will be nothing like a “victory tour” when the United States women’s national team gathers Sept. 21 in Cincinnati at the luminous TQL Stadium for a friendly against South Africa.
Neither should it be a total waste of time.
Every team needs practice and competition to improve, and the USWNT certainly need plenty of both as they recover from the poorest World Cup performance in their history. What they do not need is empty exercise, which is what we’d be looking at if Vlatko Andonovski does not receive a definitive pronouncement in advance about his future as head coach.
If U.S. Soccer wants to keep Andonovski, he should know. If its officials want a new coach, he should go, and an announcement should come immediately after the World Cup concludes on Sunday, Aug. 20.
There have been multiple reports that he will be replaced, and there is plenty of justification for U.S. Soccer to move in a different direction following the USWNT’s Round of 16 defeat against Sweden in this year’s World Cup, which included just one American victory in four games and a single goal scored — combined — in the last three of those.
DECOURCY: What’s next for U.S. women’s team after World Cup elimination
Andonovski’s contract expires in December, and it would be possible for…
