U.S. women apply finishing touches for World Cup
LOS ANGELES — What a difference 90 days makes.
On Feb. 13, the U.S. women's national team wrapped a two-game European trip that ended up being most unsatisfactory: a loss to No. 3 France and a narrow win over No. 6 England. This was not the plan.
"We thought it was going to be a coming out party for our team, saying, 'This is the new way we're playing, look how great,'" starting left back Meghan Klingenberg said. "And it didn't turn out that way. We took a lot of heat in the media and from our friends and family back home, and that was hard for us."
Now, three months later, the team is on track entering its third World Cup tune-up match. The U.S. plays Mexico Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET at the StubHub Center in Carson Calif. Its first World Cup game is June 8 against Australia in Winnipeg.
The Americans, ranked No. 2 in the world, weren't panicked by the February friendlies because they knew more time in first-year coach Jill Ellis' system should fix any problems. Ellis, who was hired last May, didn't have much time to implement her plan before the trip overseas. The players had NWSL club obligations last summer, met for the World Cup qualifying tournament in October, took November off, and played a few games in Brazil in December.
They didn't play in January and then were thrust into back-to-back games against two of the best teams in the world.
Picking up a new coaching philosophy isn't easy. Former coach Pia Sundhage, who led the U.S. to the 2011 World Cup final and a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, preached playing long balls, tackling and toughness. In Ellis' system, those things still matter, but she teaches keeping the ball and playing more indirectly rather than just going over the top to score.
"That takes time to develop and it took us an entire year working on it to become good at it," Klingenberg said.
Since February, the Americans have played in four Algarve Cup matches — including the championship win over France — and two farewell tour games in the U.S. against New Zealand and Ireland, in which they've outscored opponents 7-0.
Each game brings more chemistry and comfort in the new scheme.
"The way that we are able to read each other and the thought process of going forward in the attack is much more on the same page," Klingenberg said. "When we were playing against France and England, we were still practicing all these new ways of attacking and going forward. We were still planting seeds of how we wanted to attack.
"Our team has gotten better and better as we've gotten games under our belt and we're starting to think alike. And when your team is able to think alike defensively and then especially on the attack, then you're able to put on good performances and create quality chances."
With less than 30 days until the World Cup begins, Klingenberg says there aren't any pressing issues that need addressing. It's all about tightening up little things. The final tuneup at home comes May 30 against South Korea in Harrison, N.J.
"We create a lot of chances every game, but we need to put more goals in the net," she said. "Whenever we do get the ball in the goal zone, and get a quality chance, we need to finish that and be able to put away those games. We probably need to take care of the ball a little more and have better possession.
"Because when we have the ball we're extremely dangerous."