COMMENTARY | The United States women’s national team played Canada Saturday in one of two friendly matches in the Celebration Series. Although many expected USA to score a resounding win, at the end of 90 minutes the teams were tied 1-1.
The American women needed a win to shore up their self-confidence and reinforce their world presence heading into the 2012 Olympic qualification rounds. Unfortunately, three coaching missteps from Pia Sundhage led them to the tie.
1. Debuting a new field configuration
Throughout most of the 2011 World Cup the American women used the popular 4-4-2 field configuration very successfully. The configuration allowed the four midfielders and two strikers to attack in a staggered or zigzagged formation. The player driving the ball forward always had at least two teammates to pass to when she ran into trouble.
Coach Pia Sundhage Saturday debuted a 4-2-3-1 against Canada. By playing two low midfielders and three high midfielders, the American team seemed crowded into the middle third of the field. Players were no longer sure of their easy passes, and played flat much of the game.
Even though the new configuration put more players on the offensive, it wasn’t used successfully by Team USA. Right midfielder Heather O’Reilly was often all alone far up on the right side of the field. She was essentially removed from scoring opportunities. Although she is a defender, so much of the team was unsure of position that Amy LePeilbet spent much of the second half leading the team’s advances toward Canada’s goal.
2. Overuse of substitutes
In a half-time interview, Abby Wambach told Fox Sports that Sundhage was mixing things up to prepare for Olympic play and had plans to play as many as possible. While it builds depth when everyone has international field experience, there is an appropriate time and a place to substitute the starters.
The first game of the Celebration Series wasn’t either one. Not only were players forced to play in unfamiliar positions, they also played with less experienced teammates. Four starters were substituted out during the game, including Rapinoe and Wambach, two of the team’s biggest play-makers. Instead of strengthening an already struggling team, Sundhage only amplified their weaknesses.
3. Undervaluing the team’s need for a win
As the coach, Sundhage ultimately is the person the team looks to for guidance and motivation. It is clear in her coaching decisions Saturday that Sundhage grossly underestimated the team’s need to restore their self-confidence in international play.
While a tie isn’t exactly the same as a loss, it doesn’t prove to the team or the world that USA’s World Cup loss to Japan was nothing more than an unfortunate fluke. What Sundhage needed to do was put her best team forward, direct them to dominate Canada during the match, and finish the game with a resounding victory.