Vlatko Andonovski, the head coach of the United States women’s national soccer team, has resigned, three people with direct knowledge of the situation said Wednesday, ending a somewhat tumultuous tenure in charge of the former world’s top team. .
The US Soccer Federation plans to announce Andonovski’s departure as coach on Thursday, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the move publicly.
Andonovski’s four-year contract is set to expire at the end of the year. US Soccer will appoint an interim coach for two friendlies this fall but hopes to have a permanent replacement named by the end of the year to begin preparations for next summer’s Paris Olympics.
Andonovski’s resignation was unexpected. The United States is a huge underperformer at this year’s Women’s World Cup after winning the previous two tournaments. The team suffered the earliest elimination in tournament history after losing in a penalty shootout to rival Sweden in the round of 16. The United States scored just four goals in a World Cup it entered as one of the favorites, which beating only one of its four opponents, Vietnam, and drawing with the Netherlands and Portugal in the group stage.
Andonovski, 46, was a head coach in the National Women’s Soccer League for seven years before US Soccer announced his hiring in October 2019. Her predecessor, Jill Ellis, stepped down after five years with the team after the United States won the 2019 Women’s World Cup, making Ellis the first coach to win back-to-back Women’s World Cups Cups.
Andonovski won the first 16 games he coached, including titles in the 2020 Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament and the SheBelieves Cup. The coronavirus pandemic took six months into Andonovski’s tenure, pushing the Tokyo Olympics back a year to 2021 and complicating his first two years on the job. Once the Games came around, the United States entered as favorites but won only one bronze medal.
As the World Cup begins, the United States’ ability to capture the elusive three-peat — no team has won three consecutive titles since the tournament’s inception in 1991 — is almost immediately in question. The Americans beat Vietnam in their opening game, but by a relatively modest 3-0 margin, nothing like the 13-0 romp over Thailand that opened their 2019 title run. The Americans would score just once, on a header from Lindsey Horan that tied the score with the Netherlands, 1-1.
A scoreless draw with Portugal was enough for the United States to advance but did not win its group, prompting the need for a “belief” social media campaign going into the round of 16 and opening the national team to criticism from itself, with former players like Tobin Heath and Carli Lloyd expressing dissatisfaction with the team’s style of play.
Andonovski has been criticized for his tactical decision-making, including his decisions on substitutes. He also has star players like Alex Morgan and Julie Ertz playing different roles than usual, with mixed results. Exciting newcomers like Ashley Sanchez and 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson barely played.
In the end, the one-millimeter threshold to let Sweden advance and stop the United States — and Andonovski — fell miles short of expectations.
