— Melbourne, Australia
Earlier this year, I interviewed Alex Morgan for The Guardian. We talked about everything from motherhood, to England’s Lionesses, to the eras of her game.
We also talked about loss.
I could hear her in my head throughout this World Cup group stage. The US beat Vietnam 3-0, but it was hardly overwhelming. Then they fumbled through the Netherlands 1-1 before stumbling through Portugal 0-0. And all the while I could hear Morgan in my head, relaying to me that actually, sometimes losing is good for you.
You have to learn then. You do learn then. You won’t get that if you always win.
It feels so far-off now to recall, but Alex Morgan’s first World Cup was in 2011. She’s world famous now, but she was just a rookie then. They nicknamed her “baby horse”.
Anyway in 2011 the US had two stars to their name and at the time, it had been 12 years since they collected their last one. They lost a few times at that World Cup, and failed to collect their third. The first loss was against Sweden- sweet old kryptonite Sweden- in the group stage. The second loss was in the final, in penalties, when they fell to Japan.
When I talked to Morgan this past April, she pointed toward that World Cup penalty loss as a particularly formative moment in her career:
“I think that you always learn so much more from losing than winning. 2011 is one of the biggest heartbreaks, I feel like, in program history, and in my career history, losing to penalties to Japan in that World Cup.”
What happened next only feels inevitable in retrospect. But the US (in large part powered by Morgan) proceeded to win back to back World Cups. For Morgan, that meteoric revenge started on the bedrock of loss:
“I feel like we took 2015 and 2019 as, "we're not going to let 2011 happen to us again". We felt like we were deserving and kind of let it go out of our hands. And so I feel like you learn so much more from the games where you don't find yourself on top.”
This evening in Melbourne, the US were the better team— until penalties arrived.
Vlatko Andonovski evolved his formation and personnel. For perhaps the first time I can remember, he got it absolutely right.
Emily Sonnett appeared and was a force in the middle, making her first-ever World Cup start, next to an Andi Sullivan having the match of her life. Naomi Girma was who she’d been this whole tournament: the most essential rookie on this team, never mind that she’s a defender. Emily Fox? Incredible. Lindsey Horan? She did one hell of a job. Line by line, every player performed well enough to get a win, to move on, to keep this three-peat team chugging along back to New Zealand.
But despite the dominance in play, they were kept out of the net in regular play, in part because Sweden’s keeper, Zećira Mušović, made eleven remarkable saves.
And so it went to penalties. And when penalties arrived, they flailed through them.
It started well but unraveled. They were held up in part by the heroics of Alyssa Naeher (who in a cascade of high drama, took a penalty herself). Megan Rapinoe skied hers. Sophia Smith skied hers. Kelley O’Hara lobbed hers into the post.
Naeher nearly kept them floating, despite the odds. She got her hands on that final penalty, in what felt momentarily to be a save, but it was in.
After a pause, nobody knowing if it was good or not, that was it. FIN.
This is the earliest exit for the four-time World Champions in the history of their team. It comes on the back of a solid performance, following a tournament of incredible disappointment. It arrived amid cascading accusations of their inevitable fall, the world catching up, the signs of stagnation apparent at various levels— from the youth teams, to the development, to the coaching.
And you know what? Good.
As Vlatko Andonovski told the press after the match: “now is the time for criticism”. And beneath that criticism, perhaps they grow.
Do I enjoy watching Julie Ertz come through the mixed zone, lip trembling, bloodshot eyes? No I do not. Do I enjoy the shock and devastation from Sophia Smith as the 22-year-old with still so much potential sends her penalty into the sky? Nope. And Lindsey Horan, robbed of a golazo or two by a keeper having the match of her life, coming through with a glassy-eyed, forlorn stare? Not great.
But losing here feels important. It’s a shock to the system for a program that needs to change.
It’s also a bedrock of motivation for a new team of rookies- Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith- that will serve as the hunger for whatever comes next. I can only imagine how Catarina Macario feels, watching this falter from far-off.
And just as 2011’s failure (though coming much further along) ignited the fire in Alex Morgan and the teams she led that followed, perhaps a few different fires ignited tonight.
I’ve a feeling they’ll be back. And this shock of a tournament will have been incredibly necessary in the end.
This is diffeent than 2011 loss. At that time we were still the dominant team and only needed to make some adjustments to get back on top. This time the world has caught up to us in many ways has surpassed us. Infact We have been very poor since the Olympics two years ago. Our youth teams cant go deep in either the under 20 or under 17 World Cups. Common thread is our lack of tactics and technical ability. Watch Portugal and the Dutch with less talent than we have they none the less are far more coordinated as teams. They have the technical know how to know when to attack how to attack how to defend as a unit. We attack and defend as individuals we rely on great plalyers like Sophia Smith and the now injured Mallory Swanson to conjure miracles in transitional moments. This doesnt work anymore. We need to expand the NWSL academies so that players as young as 12 learn how to play the game right from the start. More players like Horan should go overseas and draw from their advanced tactical environment. The USSF needs to be run on a professional level comprabable to the FA in England or the NFL in america. The old boys old girls network needs to be cleaned up and only the best need apply. We need to expand soccer into the inner cities and its not just a racial issue players of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are not participating in soccer because of the expenses involved.
The next coach should be picked on the basis of demonstrated excellence and no other reason. We also need to challenge our national team with more games against top teams especially away from home even if this means less money for the USSF.
Post Mortem Again people will blame the coach others will blame the players for the early elimination. Real issue is that we lack the tactical sophistication that other top nations have. Simply showing up and outworking other teams is no longer sufficient. Again we have a seemingly vast player pool in this country but as long as soccer in general and womens soccer in particular remains an almost exclusively suburban sport the real player pool is actually much smaller. Finally we must look at the inner workings of the USSF. and ask if this organization is truly working to advance soccer in this country or is actually run as a self contained unit dedicated to its self perpetuation
Surprised no mention of Rapinoe, who certainly has enjoyed many great moments in her iconic career, but none of them in this WC.
Really her only remaining skill is set piece delivery and today not even that. Not one decent corner or FK played. And of course the wild PK miss that stopped the momentum of 3 straight makes.
Every WC is the story of a new generation trying to co-exist with those who have come before and find that balance. It is unfortunate that one player made herself bigger than the goal of winning the championship and so here we are.