By Canadian Press

US women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski resigns after early World Cup exit, AP source says

Aug 16, 2023 | 7:01 PM

U.S. women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has resigned, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The move comes less than two weeks after the Americans were knocked out of the Women’s World Cup earlier than ever before.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the move had not been officially announced. An announcement was expected Thursday.

The four-time tournament champions struggled throughout this World Cup. A victory over Vietnam to kick off the group stage was followed by a pair of draws against Netherlands and Portugal — barely enough to get the team into the knockout stage,

The Americans played well in the Round of 16 against Sweden, but ultimately fell on penalties after a scoreless tie. The U.S. scored just four goals over the course of the tournament.

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The United States had never finished worse that third in the tournament.

The 46-year-old Andonovski was named coach of the United States in October 2019, taking over for Jill Ellis, who led the United States to back-to-back World Cup titles. He finished 51-5-9 during his time with the team.

It wasn’t just the World Cup that hurt Andonovski’s chances of keeping his job. The United States also finished with a disappointing bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Kate Markgraf, general manager of the U.S. women’s team, stuck with Andonovski following the Olympics and the team focused on developing young players ahead of the World Cup.

The United States was bitten by injuries in the run-up to the tournament, losing a pair of key players. Mallory Swanson injured her knee during a friendly in April, and captain Becky Sauerbrunn couldn’t recover from a foot injury in time.

The World Cup was challenging for many elite teams because of the ever-growing parity in the women’s game. Germany, Brazil and Canada, the winners in Tokyo, also got knocked out early.

Andonovski was head coach of Seattle’s OL Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League when he was hired.

During his seven years in the NWSL, he led the now-defunct FC Kansas City from the league’s inception in 2013 until the club folded in 2017, winning two league titles with the team.

Andonovski, a native of Skopje, Macedonia, played for several teams in Europe before embarking on a professional indoor soccer career in the United States.

His predecessor, Ellis, was named coach of the team in 2014 and led the U.S. to eight overall tournament titles, including victories at the World Cup in 2015 and 2019. Over the course of her tenure, the United States lost just seven matches.

Now the process will start to find a replacement, and the timeline is relatively short. The United States has already qualified for the 2024 Olympics in France.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup

Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press