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Caitlin Murray, ESPN
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The pressure is mounting for the United States women’s national team ahead of a pivotal final group game against Portugal on Tuesday. If the Americans lose, they will be eliminated from the tournament, but coach Vlatko Andonovski said he’s not letting the pressure get to him.
“I don’t know how it is with the other coaches and the other national teams, but the moment you sit in this chair — the moment I sat in this chair in 2019 — is when the pressure starts,” Andonovski told a news conference on Monday. “This isn’t something new.
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“The only thing that changed from 2019 to now is I just learned how to turn the pressure into excitement. I came into this World Cup not thinking, ‘Oh my gosh’ — it’s, ‘We’re having a chance to compete for a title.'”
Andonovski has also followed the lead of his players by forming a self-described “bubble.” The team did that in 2019 when they won the World Cup, with the players saying they did not check social media during the tournament, and they are doing so again – with the exception of a bit of Instagram.
“One thing that I do is I don’t have social media, I don’t read anything — our press officer is my main source of information,” Andonovski said. “When we were driving this way, we were actually talking a little bit about it. He shared something and I was like, ‘Whew, when did this happen?’
“He’s been very good to me and selecting the things that I need to know and selecting the things I don’t need to know because I’m pretty sure if I knew everything outside of our bubble, I wouldn’t be smiling right now. That’s how I deal with pressure.”
Tuesday’s game is the first time in at least 16 years the USWNT has faced the prospect of going home during the group stage with a straight loss.
In the 2019 and 2011 World Cups, the USWNT had already clinched their spot in the knockout round after the first two games, and in 2015 even third-placed teams were eligible to advance out of the group.
But the USWNT’s draw to Netherlands means that they must get a win or a draw in Portugal to close out the group stage if Netherlands also beat Vietnam, the most likely scenario.
In all likelihood, a loss to Portugal by any margin would eliminate the U.S.
But even a win also doesn’t assure the USWNT will get the path it wants through the tournament if the Netherlands also win their game on Tuesday.
The Americans head into the final group stage matchday tied with Netherlands in points but in first in the standings on goal differential.
But with Netherlands playing Vietnam next, the team that has conceded most goals in Group E thus far and scored none, that goal differential could change.
Coming in second could mean facing Sweden, the team that demolished the USWNT in the Olympics two years ago.
Andonovski said the team isn’t focused on the goal differential, just winning.
“For us the most important thing is getting into the knockout stage, first and foremost,” Andonovski said. “That’s our main focus.
“We don’t want to look two, three, four steps forward. It’s the first step. Let’s make sure that we get into the next stage. If we start thinking too far ahead, our chance may never come.”