The United States should up its stage throughout the board because it possible faces a deadly round-of-16 opponent on the Women’s World Cup, having simply barely saved its title defence alive after a panoramic scare in Tuesday’s closing group-stage hurdle.
The five-inch-wide (12.7 cm) aluminium goalpost was all that separated the Americans from utter catastrophe on Tuesday, as a stoppage-time shot from Portugal ahead Ana Capeta ricocheted off the submit.
The try was so convincing that even the Portugal coach on the sideline at first believed it had pulled off the unattainable, getting previous the top-ranked Americans and into the knockout levels in its match debut.
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Instead, it packed its luggage after the scoreless draw because the United States stayed behind, left to marvel how its journey for an unprecedented third consecutive title had almost become utter catastrophe.
“The player of the match was that post,” Fox Sports correspondent Carli Lloyd mentioned in a grim appraisal of her former teammates’ efficiency.
Had the USA exited, it could have been its worst World Cup efficiency and would have marked the primary time that defending champions had gone out within the group stage.
“It’s not like we don’t have the pieces,” coach Vlatko Andonovski instructed reporters. “We have to stick to our principles, we have to stick to our game model and we have to stick to our philosophy.”
It will nearly definitely meet its rivals Sweden within the spherical of 16, the place it should discover a method to handle the 1995 winners’ set-piece prowess with a purpose to survive.
Doing so would require that the United States resolve its lack of synchrony, with Andonovski beforehand blaming the starters’ lack of enjoying minutes collectively.
His determination to start out Lynn Williams over Trinity Rodman at ahead on Tuesday didn’t yield higher outcomes because the Portugal goalkeeper Ines Pereira had no issues heading off Williams’ greatest efforts.
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“There are areas where we need to get better … starting from the back, how to connect with the midfielders, and from the midfield to the forwards, how to be more dangerous,” Andonovski instructed reporters.
“We have to get on the same page when it comes down to the final goal, to the final pass and execution.”
Another potential difficulty for its round-of-16 affair in Melbourne on Sunday would be the absence of star midfielder Rose Lavelle, who had been restricted in her minutes after getting back from a protracted harm restoration.
The artful, inventive fan-favourite acquired the beginning on Tuesday – and seemed to be probably the most succesful in opposition to the Portugal defence – however incurred a second yellow card that can stop her from enjoying within the subsequent match.
It was a disappointing blow to an American midfield already working beneath the extent they wished to see.
“I wouldn’t say that the midfield three was disjointed – obviously we wanted to see them more connected,” mentioned Andonovski. “We just have to get better.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com