AUKLAND: The United States entered the Women’s World Cup as the favourite to win a third title in a row but they head into last 16 looking anything but winners after limping through the group stage.
There were already concerns about Vlatko Andonovski’s team after an unimpressive 3-0 victory against Vietnam in their opening match was followed by a 1-1 tie with the Netherlands.
Andonovski and his team attempted to make the best of those performances, there were very few redeeming qualities in their performance on Tuesday, when they held on for a 0-0 draw with World Cup debutants Portugal to clear the knockout phase.
Ana Capeta’s shot hit the post in injury time coming incredibly close to securing a victory for Portugal, which would have condemned the holders to an unthinkable group-stage exit.
Aside from surviving that shock, the Americans are worried about the underlying statistics.
They had less possession at Eden Park and failed to score for the first time in 15 World Cup games, since a 0-0 tie with Sweden in the 2015 World Cup group stage.
They also had less possession in their tie with the Dutch, while their finishing has been poor since the start of the tournament.
“I do not believe that was a good performance overall, starting from the back,” said Andonovski.
“I don’t believe we were able to address the issues raised by the opponents. There were times when we did and it appeared to be working, but those moments were very few and not enough to be able to walk out of here with several goals.”
APP/AFP
