“The illusion of pressure sometimes can cause more havoc than the actual pressure.”
Aly Wagner spit out those words for us to hear at the end of the USWNT’s callously lifeless 0-0 performance Tuesday against Portugal. The pressure to three-peat in a World Cup. To be the first ever to do such. But still.
Illusion has entered the reality stage. And while there has always been a pressure for the U.S. Woman’s squad to win during this — or any— World Cup, three has also been an expected degree of pressure on them to perform at a “We/them” level. That’s the (and I’m going to use this word purposefully and precisely) responsibility that comes with expectations. Yes, winning is the end all be all, but when you are not only the best in the world but also the standard setters in how the sport should look when played at the most brilliant level and multi-generational greatness is the/your norm, then “how you play” becomes just as important a component.
The look of “our talent and global prestige is going to be enough” ain’t enough. The look of a one-win, two-draw, second-place finish in the group round could be all the rest of the world needs to see. Because what happens is the look of fear on the faces of your opponents leaves. And in sports, when fear leaves, hope and belief usually replace it. Whatever happens to the U.S. moving forward, this will be their greatest challenge: Getting the remaining countries and teams left to fear them again.
And if we haven’t learned anything from politics in our own country, fear works.
“We have to be better in every phase of the game. We have to be better with the ball, we have to be better in transition, we have to be better at defending as a collective, we have to be better in our mental approach and we have to be better in just respecting the game for Christ sakes! This game deserves more than we’ve given it. It’s a beautiful game and we’ve almost bastardized the hell out of it.”
Brandi Chastain, she of the infamous Norma Rae/Petey Pablo moment that liberated and lifted women’s sports and soccer in 1999, on Apple News’ “After The Whistle” podcast went un-Mia Hamm on the attitude and approach her former team put on display. Her fired shots carried merit. With the underlined, unspoken truth that this team can’t just flip on the switch and be great. And that this ain’t 2015 or 2019.
While we can hold on to the fact of the U.S. having only four goals in the group stage in the 2015 World Cup and eventually resurrecting to come out as queens of the throne and how this team had only four goals in group stage this year, there is a massive difference in how this current team is making us feel and what their future holds moving forward come Sunday morning. It’s almost as if we knew what their reasons and goals were, but what was their collective purpose?
Leaving two of the only quasi-explainable saving graces for USA: The close-to-equally as shocking performances — and exits — of Germany, Canada and Brazil. Germany, the two-time WWC champions not reaching the Round of 16 for the first time in World Cup history; Canada, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champions became the first reigning Olympic gold-medal team knocked out before the knockout stage of a Women’s World Cup; Brazil, the goddesses country of the global soccer world, leaving after the group stage unable to send Marta out with anything close to a deserved or proper goodbye. This allowing thoughts that maybe it’s just this particular World Cup that is the answer to the sudden pile-on of questioning questions, not necessarily the fault of the underachieving teams.
On the flip side, it opens up the gotta-ask portal for the U.S. Women’s team: Why can’t you all play with the energy, urgency and vehemence of Jamaica, South Korea, Morocco or South Africa?
Apathy — or the perception of it — has its consequences. And when that becomes the face-forwarding narrative, hoisting FIFA WWC trophies usually don’t follow.
“I made some comments when I retired in 2021 that I felt there was a shift within this team, within the federation, within the culture, the mentality, the importance and meaning of winning has changed. What has come from winning has become more important. You can never take any situation for granted. Every time you step out onto that pitch, it’s not a guarantee you’re going to win, it’s not a guarantee you’re going to win a World Cup and today was just simply uninspiring, disappointing, they don’t look fit, they’re playing as individuals and the tactics are just too predictable — and just really, just, uninspiring.”
Carli Lloyd’s preach to the choir sermon on the post-match set immediately after the USA-Portugal match made some people feel a certain way, made them get run their feelings, became the “you all ain’t close to who you all think you are” truth the USWNT and their coach, Vlatko Andonovski, and staff needed to hear. And hear it from someone who’s been telling them about themselves for going on eight years — and someone who’s earned the right to say it.
“They are young” has gone from reason to excuse. There’s no need to watch the VAR of their previous matches to tell the story of what’s really going on.
In truth, as its stands entering the Round of 16, there are no dawgs on this team. At least none who’ve shown up to this point. The marrow of her father maybe has to to run a little bit deeper through Trinity Rodman’s bones. There seems to be a survival approach instead of fight. Both in tactics and mentality. It becomes a matter of just how long will this “survive and advance” attitude and method continue to both work and not work? Could be by the time you read this, could be in the next round or even in the semifinals after that — if they’re not back on American soil by then. There’s a certain anointed privilege that comes with not just being a member of the USWNT but by being the standing two-time World Cup holder going for a third. That pressure is not an illusion, that pressure is real AH (as hell).
But only real ones know how to handle it.
