Andonovski looks to evolve, not change U.S. team as coach
NEW YORK — The United States women’s national team is entering a new era. The team is working to follow up on a rare World Cup double and maintain the high levels of success that have defined the program since its creation. And the job of leading that process has officially gone to Vlatko Andonovski, who was introduced as the program’s new head coach Monday at Hotel Eventi in Manhattan.
Andonovski, who most recently coached Reign FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, said he’s well aware of the pressure he faces to move the world’s best women’s soccer team forward.
“Jill was hired to win one World Cup and she won two,” Andonovski said of former coach Jill Ellis, who stepped down in October. “It just pushed the standard even higher and made the whole job, I guess, to be even more stressful at times but for me, I was very well aware of it.”
The North Macedonia-born coach will have to prove his ability quickly. Qualification for next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo take place this winter. His first match in charge will come in a little more than two weeks, Nov. 7 against Sweden. It will be his first chance to start honing a plan for the Olympics.
“We have a very experienced team,” Andonovski said. “We have players that have been on the international stage, on big teams in big tournaments. So we’re going to rely heavily on them, but that does not mean we’re not going to expand the roster.”
That includes looking at players plying their trade outside of NWSL and the American collegiate game.
The next several months will not just test Andonovski, but Kate Markgraf. The team’s first general manager, Markgraf was hired in August with her first task to hire Ellis’s successor. Andonovski’s success will in part go hand-in-hand with hers.
“When I was hired in mid-August officially, I had already put together a list of potential candidates that could take over for Jill in case she decided to step down,” Markgraf said. “That list had begun in June or July, and then when I officially got the nod in August, I had a diverse list of candidates.”
The U.S. Soccer board unanimously chose Andonovski on Saturday.
Markgraf noted Andonovski’s record as coach of FC Kansas City and Reign FC in the NWSL spoke for itself. She lauded his tactical preference to have the ball and “attack creatively,” even without star players. That should serve Andonovski well as he aims not only to win an Olympic gold medal in a matter of months but do so against opponents that continue to get better as more federations invest in their women’s programs.
“This game has evolved from World Cup to World Cup, but this game has also evolved from year to year,” Andonovski said.