United States’ Lindsey Horan speaks to the media throughout a FIFA Ladies’s World Cup press convention at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, July 21, 2023. Abbie Parr, Related Press
United States’ head coach Vlatko Andonovski speaks to the media throughout a FIFA Ladies’s World Cup press convention at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, July 21, 2023. Abbie Parr, Related Press
America girls’s nationwide group performs Vietnam in its first World Cup match on Friday, and the group faces the stress of successful an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup.
The expectation and objective is to win, and head coach Vlatko Andonovski didn’t draw back from that whereas speaking to reporters through the group’s media day on June 27, in keeping with Simply Ladies’s Sports activities.
“Would I be pleased with something in need of a 3rd straight win? No, completely not,” he stated. “Our objective is to win the World Cup, there’s no query about it.”
Days after scoring a brace within the group’s send-off match on July 9, Trinity Rodman spoke to ESPN’s “Fútbol Americas” forward of her first World Cup with the identical confidence as Andonovski and stated that the U.S. is “going to get the title.”
“Clearly the group has modified a lot over the past couple of World Cups, even the previous couple of months, however this group is one thing particular. We would like it greater than ever, so I anticipate a gold medal,” she stated, per Simply Ladies’s Sports activities.
Workforce co-captain Alex Morgan, who's enjoying in her fourth World Cup, was requested by a reporter final week throughout media availability how typically the group discusses the phrase “three-peat.”
“It’s really by no means thrown round with the group,” she stated. “We now have 14 first timers for the World Cup, and we see this as our personal journey.”
Morgan views every four-year block main as much as a World Cup as its personal and says the group is concentrated on taking every recreation one after the other, beginning with Friday’s match towards Vietnam.
“Trying to make historical past, that may be nice with what you stated about three-peat, however this group, that’s all at the back of our minds. It’s actually simply successful every recreation because it comes,” she stated.
When talking with the media on Wednesday, World Cup rookie Sophia Smith reiterated that the group isn’t getting forward of itself and is as a substitute specializing in the present opponent.
“Each recreation’s essential,” she stated. “This recreation (towards Vietnam) is the one recreation we’re centered on proper now. It’s gonna be a tough recreation. It doesn’t matter who we’re enjoying, each World Cup recreation is a problem, and it’s going to take all of us to win each recreation that we play. We’re very centered on this primary recreation and hope to start out this event off on the suitable foot.”
Smith acknowledged the “massive goal” the U.S. gamers have on their backs. She additionally acknowledges the magnitude of what the U.S. girls’s nationwide group has completed and hopes so as to add to it.
“It’s clearly unbelievable what this group has achieved, and all we hope to do is to sort of proceed on that legacy and push the boundaries and be even higher and make historical past and do issues that groups have by no means achieved,” she stated.
Smith is a frontrunner to win the NWSL’s Golden Boot award for the participant who has scored probably the most objectives, however she received’t let ideas about particular person accolades and successful the World Cup’s Golden Boot cloud her general focus of successful the World Cup.
“I’m interested by successful the World Cup. I’m interested by successful the primary recreation towards Vietnam. No matter that appears like, whoever scores, regardless of the rating is, a win is a win, and that’s the largest factor to me,” she stated. “If it takes me scoring lots of objectives for us to win, I’ll try this. If it takes me enjoying lots of protection, I’ll try this. All of us have the identical objective, and it’s to win and it’s to start out off by beating Vietnam and no matter it takes to try this.”
The U.S. performs Vietnam on Friday at 7 p.m. MDT. The match will probably be broadcast on Fox and may also be streamed on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports activities App.
United States’ head coach Vlatko Andonovski speaks to the media throughout a FIFA Ladies’s World Cup press convention at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, July 21, 2023.
Abbie Parr, Related Press