Focus is key for U.S. in opener
Special to The Denver Post
REIMS, FRANCE» The mood around the U.S. Women’s National team team seems pretty loose but focused.
I saw the players Monday, getting onto the bus for training, and it was as if they were already dialed in and ready to go. Some fans were there, and some of the players waved but some didn’t. I think they’re starting to get into that mind-set that Tuesday is game day and it’s time to start this journey.
I think they’re eager to get that first game under their belts, to step on the field and actually get to do what they are here to do. They’ve been abroad for two weeks already. They’re itching to get started.
The World Cup began last Friday, and U.S.-Thailand will be the last game of the first portion of this group stage. I don’t think the U.S. women have ever been in that situation, so it might have been a little bit different preparation, but they’re ready to go.
The pressure they have on them as favorites and defending champions came up a lot in a press conference Sunday. Julie Ertz and Alyssa Naeher were there and Ertz answered point blank: “We don’t really think about external pressure, because the pressure we put on ourselves is so high. Our expectations in any tournament are to win the tournament.”
The players don’t even think about external pressures. It’s as if they’ve created a bubble around themselves.
Naeher mentioned she deleted her Instagram and Twitter. Each player is going to take it a little differently, but I think that speaks to the bubble they have created around themselves. It has to be there. They have to know they are good, they’re capable and they have to start to really focus only on themselves.
Reims, where Tuesday’s game will be played, is a little town in the middle of champagne country, about a 45-minute train ride east of Paris. It’s a bit secluded, but American fans are starting to trickle in. I think a lot of them are staying in Paris because, to get a hotel room, Reims is sold out. I would imagine a lot of people are coming Tuesday for the game and then going back. It’s a sold-out game, and I would imagine because they’re playing Thailand, a lot of those people will be Americans.
I think it will be an interesting game. I expect the Americans will come out with fire and hope to pounce on an early lead. The quicker they can get goals, the quicker they can start to build that confidence they thrive on. Also, I think it will be key to use their three substitutions to get as many players as possible as many minutes as possible. That allows for some key players to get a little bit of rest, too.
Jordan Angeli will be sharing her insights from the Women’s World Cup in France over the next month in collaboration with Denver Post writer John Meyer. Angeli, who played in the 2006 under-20 World Cup in Russia, is covering the fan experience at the World Cup on social media for U.S. Soccer.