Team eager to establish identity under Ellis
REIMS, France — The U.S. women’s soccer team has waited four years to defend its World Cup trophy, a period that included a fall at the Olympics, the departure of some and the infusion of others, tactical experiments, a strategic revamp and a promising buildup.
So what’s a few extra days longer?
When the 24-team tournament began across France late last week, with the reigning champions as slight favorites and the hosts mounting a threat, the Americans were forced to wait and watch a little longer. The last teams to play their first group match, the United States will take on Thailand on Tuesday night.
“We’re feeling left out,” forward Alex Morgan said jokingly Monday.
Judging from comments in recent days and the good vibes emanating from U.S. training camps — in multiple U.S. venues, then London and now this city 90 miles northeast of Paris — the Americans are aching to start.
“When the tournament kicks off and you watch the games, the anticipation for your first match grows,” said Jill Ellis, who will attempt to coach the U.S. team to consecutive World Cup titles for the first time. “The players are ready, excited, hungry. We feel prepared. The process has been a long one, but the preparation has been excellent.”
The United States is expected to clear the first two hurdles — Thailand is ranked No. 34, Chile No. 39 — before encountering stout resistance in the Group F finale against Sweden. From there, in a women’s environment that has grown more competitive, the real tests begin. If the United States and third-ranked France do not stumble along the way, they will collide in the quarterfinals.
For now, the focus is on the group.
Veteran squad
“You can’t get beyond the first game because there are so many twists and turns in this plot, you just have to be ready to tack in terms of absorb or examine what is in front of you,” said Ellis, a native of England who graduated from William & Mary. “To get too forward ahead could be problematic. There are so many unknowns out there. I feel very confident in our preparation for the unknowns.”
What is known is that this U.S. team retained 12 of 23 players from the 2015 squad that routed Japan in the World Cup final 5-2. It is the oldest team in the competition, with an average age of 28.5, and the most experienced (five players have appeared in 10 or more World Cup matches).
It features a lethal front line (Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Tobin Heath) and enough depth to field two quality squads. Carli Lloyd, hat-trick hero of the 2015 final, and rising star Mallory Pugh are options off the bench.
“It’s been unique and exciting to watch this team grow over the last three years,” retired forward Abby Wambach said. “They are just kind of getting started.”
Morgan alluded to this group seeking to forge its identity, saying: “Many of the players were not a part of (2015). There is just a different feel and it feels great. This team is ready to go. I feel like we are in peak form and ready to find success for the first time in this tournament as 19ers.”
The reference to 19ers comes 20 years after the famed 99ers, led by Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers and Julie Foudy, won the program’s second world title.
This team will have to navigate a diversifying field of true contenders (France and second-ranked Germany), an emerging European class (Netherlands, Spain and Italy) and perennial threats (Canada, Australia, Japan, Sweden and England).
Tough loss in Olympics
“The gap from top to bottom has continued to close over the years,” defender Kelley O’Hara said, “and this is the tightest it’s ever been.”
Three years ago in Brazil, the Americans were ousted in the Olympic quarterfinals by Sweden — their earliest elimination from a major tournament since the program formed more than 30 years ago.
“I definitely look on that as motivation and encouragement because I never want to feel the way I felt after that tournament,” Morgan said.
If there is a vulnerability this summer, it’s in the back. In the run-up to the tournament, the Americans conceded a dangerous number of opportunities — they almost dare opponents to commit players forward and leave themselves exposed to a U.S. counter. Ellis will also rely on a goalkeeper (Alyssa Naeher) who never has played in a World Cup or Olympics.
Any perceived weaknesses are overshadowed by the power of a program that has raised more trophies than anyone in women’s soccer annals. But winning another crown will not come easy.
“This team has always had high pressure, especially in big tournaments,” Morgan said. “That’s for a reason. We have a rich history of success, and that’s one of the reasons we set high expectations for ourselves and people (have) expectations for us. This team is united in a way we have never seen it before.”