The United States women kick off their road to the 2015 World Cup on Wednesday, and they’ll be hoping their road to Canada is a lot less eventful than their road to Germany during the last cycle. They lost their semifinal in the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, sending them down a rocky road to qualification.
5 things to watch for during USWNT World Cup qualifying
The United States Women’s National Team are going to qualify for the World Cup, and they’re going to do it comfortably. Here are five things to watch for during qualifying that will be more relevant than the final scores.
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This time around, qualifying should be more straightforward. As hosts, Canada don’t have to qualify, so they’re not in this tournament. That means that Mexico are the favorites to win the group the U.S. aren’t in, not finish second, so the USWNT’s opponent for an automatic qualifying spot in the semifinal shouldn’t be much better than the teams they face in group play.
However, despite the low level of competition and the serious likelihood that the USWNT will win all of their games by four goals or more, there are still plenty of reasons to watch. Here are five of them.
Will the USWNT play down to their competition?
With no disrespect intended to anyone that the United States will play in this competition, they are clearly the most talented team in CONCACAF qualifying by an extreme magnitude. Mexico is the only other team who will field a starting XI mostly comprised of professional players playing at the highest level of the women’s game, and the United States beat them comfortably in recent friendlies. If the U.S. is at their best, they will win their games by wide margins and never look under threat.
While no one wants to see amateur players get embarrassed, Jill Ellis is going to have to make sure her players take this competition seriously and don’t play down to the level of their opponents. The last time the USWNT thought they could coast through qualifying, in 2010, they were shocked by Mexico and had to play a tough home-and-away playoff against Italy.
Is there a forward rotation, or a clear starting group?
The strongest part of the U.S. squad is striker, and Ellis can’t fit all of her world class players into one team. She’s found a way to get time for all of her forwards in friendlies, but might not have an idea of who her best ones are yet, or if she’s better served by a rotation than having a couple of first-choice players up top.
Things might change come next summer, but whether Ellis rolls with the same forwards all tournament or plays a different group every game could be telling.
Will central defense pairings without Christie Rampone be given a look?
Incredibly, at 39 years of age, Christie Rampone is still one of the best central defenders in the world. And not only does she have the incredible positional sense and instincts that you’d expect from a player with 280 caps, but she hasn’t lost much of her pace either. She’s a marvel of modern science, and there’s a good chance that she will play at the highest level of professional soccer until she’s 60.
There’s an equally good chance that she hits a wall, despite looking perfectly capable of starting at the World Cup right now. It’s not uncommon in the women’s or men’s game for a veteran player to look surprisingly up to keeping their place in the team during qualifying, only to fall off steeply before the World Cup. Ellis has to be ready for that possibility, so trying out central defense pairings that don’t include Rampone is probably a good idea.
How fluid is the formation?
Since Ellis took over, the United States has played in a somewhat unbalanced 4-3-3 formation with a true winger on the right and an inside forward who normally plays as a striker on the left. It’s a setup that ensures they won’t be outnumbered in midfield while giving Heather O’Reilly and Ali Krieger the same crossing options that they had when the team played a 4-4-2.
The U.S. won’t be tactically rigid, but it remains to be seen how comfortable they are attacking fluidly. The USWNT is going to score plenty of goals even if they do rely on a couple of crutches and attack predictably, so whether or not they’re scoring isn’t what’s important. What’s important is whether they seem to have an understanding of timing, spacing and where everyone is supposed to be.
This level of competition will be forgiving when it comes to misplaced passes and players getting out of position, but the World Cup will be a different story.
Who’s the most defensive midfielder?
Shot-happy, box-to-box midfielder Carli Lloyd has been converted to a more defensive role in recent years, but still has the ability (and desire) to make runs into the box and score goals. This is why Morgan Brian has been enlisted in the role on a handful of occasions, with Lloyd playing as a linking player between Brian and a more attacking midfielder, like Lauren Holiday or Tobin Heath, though Holiday has been given looks at DM too.
If Brian starts, it’s almost certainly an indicator that Ellis doesn’t see Lloyd as a defensive midfielder. But even if Lloyd does start in that role, that doesn’t mean she’ll continue in it going forward. Brian is still at Virginia, and a season of pro soccer could convince Ellis that she’s ready to step into the starting lineup for the World Cup.
Schedule
USA vs. Trinidad and Tobago - Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 2
USA vs. Guatemala - Friday, 9 p.m., Fox Sports 1
USA vs. Haiti - Oct. 20, Fox Sports 1
Semifinal - Oct. 24, Fox Sports 1
Final - Oct. 26, Fox Sports 1
