The 46-year-old's time in charge will be remembered for its shortcomings after a historic failure in Australia and New Zealand
Vlatko Andonovski's tenure as head coach of the United States women's national team is over. That fact was confirmed the second the USWNT fell to Sweden in the World Cup's last 16, though it wasn't made official until Thursday when it was confirmed that he has stepped down from the role. It's the nature of the job, really: anything less than perfection is generally going to be seen as not good enough.
But, make no mistake, Andonovski came nowhere near perfection. He generally seemed well-liked by players and has proven himself as a capable head coach during his time in the NWSL, but his USWNT tenure will be remembered as nothing short of a disaster. It'll not just be remembered as the era in which the rest of the world truly caught up with the USWNT, but also the era in which the USWNT left themselves open to it by botching everything from personnel selections to in-game adjustments.
The blame for that will fall on Andonovski, although there's plenty to go around from the highest levels of U.S. Soccer all the way down. This wasn't a one-man mess, for sure. Regardless, so ends the Andonovski era, one that will be looked back at as a failure as the U.S. never got close to reaching the standards of yesteryear.
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What Andonovski walked into
Say what you want about Andonovski, but you do have to appreciate the difficulty of the situation he walked into. By replacing Jill Ellis, he was taking over for a legend. There's an old saying that says that you don't want to replace the legend; you want to replace the guy that replaced the legend. That proved true here, for sure.
In taking over the USWNT, Andonovski was always going to be held up to Ellis' standards. Those consecutive World Cup trophies would hang over everything Andonovski did. Ellis set the marker, and Andonovski would have to live up to it.
He couldn't. At two major tournaments, Andonovski led the USWNT to just three wins in 10 games. Under his leadership, the USWNT just completed their worst-ever World Cup run. Andonovski is now the first coach to lead the team into multiple major tournaments and not lift a trophy.
And the worst part is that many saw it coming. This summer's disaster had been brewing for some time.
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Olympic warning signs
It was easy to excuse the USWNT's performance at the 2020 Olympics. It was a disjointed, delayed tournament after all, one totally derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The players were out of rhythm and devoid of chemistry. In hindsight, though, it was the first worrying sign.
The U.S. finished with the bronze medal, a success for most teams but surely not for this program. The tournament began with a 3-0 battering at the hands of Sweden in the group stage, but, from there, the U.S. seemed to right the ship. That was until semi-final loss to Canada doomed them to that third-place match, where they took down Australia in a 4-3 thriller.
During that tournament, Andonovski was criticized for never settling on a line up, rotating in a way that sometimes seemed needless. He was also criticized for failing to usher in new blood to take over from a series of legends that were nearing their expiration date.
That second part led to his mandate after that failure in 2021: bring in new superstars in time for 2023.
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Failed rebuild
To be fair, this wasn't entirely Andonovski's fault. Injuries robbed him of several younger stars like Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson, both of whom would have been key players at the World Cup this summer. But still, a glimpse at the World Cup squad shows a team that failed to move on from the previous generation, and, by the end, it cost them.
Julie Ertz was never properly replaced when she stepped away to become a mother. She was ultimately replaced by… Julie Ertz, until Andonovski was ultimately forced to use her at center-back due to the lack of depth in that position.
Megan Rapinoe, a true titan of the game, was nowhere near the level we saw back in 2019, but was still Andonovski's go-to substitute even as the U.S. attack stalled completely. And Alex Morgan, still one of the top strikers in the world, was unable to find her old form and, but with no one really in the squad to replace her, Andonovski persisted.
To his credit, Andonovski saw this coming. He left Morgan and Rapinoe out for a stretch of games in 2022 as he tried to usher in a new era. The problem was that that new era didn't quite take off.
Yes, stars like Naomi Girma came to the fore, but Andonovski has more losses than wins in this regard. He failed to get the best out of Sophia Smith, a player that should have done more at this World Cup, and couldn't quite get Trinity Rodman firing. Savannah DeMelo, meanwhile, somehow became a key player despite not making her first appearance until weeks before the World Cup. And let's not forget the decision to overlook players like Sam Coffey.
Overall, Andonovski was never quite able to find the right blend between old and new. Even so, the USWNT had the talent to compete at the World Cup, as long as everything went right…
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Managerial disaster-class
That prior criticism regarding over-rotation seems lightyears away now. This summer, Andonovski's biggest flaw was his inability to make the changes needed, both before and during games. While it was clear to see the USWNT was struggling, Andonovski was never willing to really fix it as it seemed he didn't truly trust his players.
The attack never got going, with the front three scoring just two goals all tournament, both from Smith. Yet Andonovski never really made any tweaks to the formation or personnel that led to anything resembling a coherent attack. Yes, chances were created, but they weren't finished. Something had to change.
The midfield, meanwhile, was a mess the whole way, with Rose Lavelle's injury and eventual suspension leaving her limited. The No.6 position was an issue that was never resolved as Andi Sullivan struggled, and it wasn't until his surprise inclusion of Emily Sonnett in the Sweden game that he truly shook things up.
But Andonovski's biggest shortcomings weren't with his initial XIs necessarily, but rather his in-game adjustments. All tournament long, he was too hesitant to turn to his bench. Against the Netherlands, he made just one sub. Against Sweden, he made just one in 90 minutes and only one more in extra-time before tossing on two players for penalties, one of whom – Kelley O'Hara – missed from the spot.
His inability to trust players cost the USWNT, for sure, and his overall struggles in constructing a cohesive team from back to front is why the U.S. went home so early.