United States coach Vlatko Andonovski mounted an impassioned defence of his crew’s requirements and stated criticism of its World Cup marketing campaign was unfair because the defending champions put together for Sunday’s spherical of 16 conflict in opposition to Sweden.
The U.S. head into its first knock-out conflict in Melbourne below hearth after having scraped by means of the group part with attracts in opposition to the Netherlands and Portugal.
Retired U.S. nice Carli Lloyd gave a scathing evaluation of the Portugal sport, saying the submit that saved the Americans in stoppage time was “player of the match”.
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Andonovski stated the criticism was out of order.
“For someone again to question the standards …. and mindset of this team after everything that they do, I personally don’t think it’s the right time to do that,” he instructed reporters on Saturday.
“And I don’t think it’s the right thing as well.
“I’m very happy with where they’re (the players) at, how they hold themselves accountable and they keep raising the standards.”
Bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive world title, the U.S. almost joined Germany, Brazil and Canada on the match’s scrap-heap in opposition to Portugal.
The early eliminations of the heavyweight nations have been proof of the match’s competitiveness, stated the coach, arguing that folks shouldn’t anticipate the U.S. to blow opponents away like in previous World Cups.
“We want to (win) everything by five goals. Who doesn’t want to do that, right? But those results are gone,” he added.
The Americans beat lowly-ranked Vietnam 3-0 however managed just one objective in its subsequent two matches.
Double World Cup-winning striker Alex Morgan has but to get on the scoresheet however stated the crew had labored on it at coaching.
“We’ve broken down what went wrong, how we can fix that in possession, out of possession, how we can capitalise on the chances, how we can create more chances in front of goal, how I can put away the chances that I’m given,” stated Morgan.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been the tournament that I would have hoped.
“But at the same time, having this incredible opportunity in front of us in round of 16 against Sweden, a team we know extremely well, I think that there’s no question we’re highly motivated to play this.”
The U.S. will likely be with out suspended midfielder Rose Lavelle after she incurred a second yellow card in opposition to Portugal.
Andonovski stated her absence would take away some tactical choices however he anticipated gamers to face up in her absence.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com