While it's certainly true that all wins count the same, fans of the United States women's national team were probably not encouraged by their team's performance against Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday. It took them until the 54th minute to score a goal against a team they were expected to beat handily, and they never scored another one. It was a shaky, disjointed performance, and they would have conceded a goal if T&T had a bit more technical quality up top.
3 questions for the USWNT ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Guatemala
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Needless to say, some kind of change is needed for Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Guatemala. It’s not obvious if that change needs to be sweeping or small -- a formation switch with the existing players or a couple of lineup changes could do the trick -- but another performance like the one against T&T will get fans worrying for real.
Jill Ellis hasn’t been on the job long and this is her first tournament in charge of the USWNT, so there’s no way to tell what she might do on Friday. But while we’re short on outright predictions, we sure do have plenty of questions.
1. How dramatically will the starting lineup change?
Ellis isn’t going to make 11 changes even though she could justify it. But when none of the players in a team look good and it’s easy to point to bad mistakes that each one made, the problem probably isn’t down to individual players. Everyone in Wednesday’s U.S. lineup is world class and most of the players are in very good form for their clubs.
Don’t expect a complete overhaul, but it would be more surprising to see the same 11 players than it would be to see five or six changes. The fact that this game is two days after the previous one might play into Ellis’ decision as well, though it’s not like most of the team was made to do a whole lot of running against T&T.
Sydney Leroux, in particular, probably deserves to be inserted into the team. She’s been great for the USWNT in 2014 and they started to play better once she entered the game on Wednesday. The same can be said about Heather O’Reilly. The most likely changes are probably putting those two in for two attackers. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Christie Rampone rested, with either Whitney Engen or Julie Johnston getting an opportunity in defense.
2. Back to the 4-3-3?
Wednesday was the first time Ellis -- or any USWNT coach in recent memory -- has fielded a team in a 4-2-4 formation. It didn’t work. Her previous sides have been different variations on 4-3-3, usually with an inside forward on the left and a true winger on the right, while two midfielders have the freedom to get forward in front of a holder.
However, there’s not really a need to control the center of the pitch against teams at the level of Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago, so perhaps Ellis is shelving that idea for the moment? Maybe she’ll bust out something different entirely.
3. Can the USWNT play calmly and quickly?
To go along with a weird tactical setup that didn’t fit the team and individual errors, the USWNT didn’t seem to have the right tempo against T&T, and they certainly didn’t look composed. They were jumpy, and after going a while without scoring, they got frustrated. There were times when they tried to slow things down, possibly to string some passes together and get more comfortable with keeping the ball, but that led to them struggling to create chances for spells.
The USWNT needs to play quickly, but under control as well. They have the quality and experience to do it, and the factors that led to them failing to do it in their last match are never going to be clear to anyone that isn’t in the locker room. There’s no obvious magic formula, they just need everyone to play better.
The match kicks off at 9 p.m. ET from Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. You can watch it on FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Go or FOX Soccer 2 Go.
