So, we left the last piece off entering this new era. Let’s take a look at our two center back prospects: Naomi Girma, 23, and Alana Cook, 26. Girma made her international debut in April of 2022. Since then, she has been a regular presence in the team participating in both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympic qualification events. Cook made her WNT debut under Vlatko Andonovski during his second game and was one of the first players to be uniquely under the Vlatko US team. From these descriptions it can be pulled that both players are part of the changing US team, neither having a previous world cup presence. That’s why I see Sauerbrunn’s role as so important. Her experience on the large stage, as well as her role as the anchor of the defense, is invaluable to the US. And, before she passes on the torch, I personally would have thought it important to have her play alongside each of the new center backs as a mentor that can build them into new rocks of the backline.
I think that Vlatko has already been trying this to some extent. I took a look at the SheBelieves Cup 2023 which was some of the most recent real game preparation the team has with some competitive, world cup seeking teams like Brazil, Canada, and Japan. In those three games, the backline was: Cook + Sauerbrunn, then Cook + Girma, and finally Girma + Sauerbrunn. This shows me that Vlatko wants to give Cook and Girma the opportunity to play with Sauerbrunn but also give them the opportunity to start developing a partnership of their own. That’s going to be really key if the US wants to go far in the tournament. Girma herself noted in a press conference that it is so important for her and Cook to build on that understanding if they are going to be a strong pair.
I got to see the partnership tested firsthand when I watched the USWNT vs Wales game on July 9th. The game was a very ‘park the bus’ performance from Wales featuring a majority US possession with a sprinkle of at most three Wales attacks. I was happy to see Girma looking positively assured in her role, in some cases even bringing the ball forward and playing through for a run up the wing. The US looked unhurried and unbothered in the back. But, unhurried and unbothered also can just be attributed to the fact that Wales really wasn’t trying to attack them with the kind of pressure they will face against a top level team—this game was just not representative of how the US will be tested in the world cup. It was worrying to see that in scenarios where slightly heavier pressure was exerted, the US fumbled in the back in really dangerous places. Even though they were able to recover, those kinds of mistakes are costly against a team with a forward line ready to capitalize. I think there’s definitely potential but there’s a certain rigidness and nervousness right now—a lack of chemistry and a need for more free flowing yet strategic choices when making plays.
To be quite honest, I doubt Vlatko is just going to throw these two into the starting center back role from the beginning as a World Cup might heighten whatever issues were there. I do believe that he would want more experience in the center back position. In that case, he might employ Julie Ertz. While she has moved into a more defensive midfield position, we can go back to the 2015 lineups to see that she did play in that center back role before. If Vlatko wants to have that balance in the back, he might opt to play Ertz with Girma or Cook initially and even throughout the tournament depending on the results he gets.
I personally have less to say about the wing backs because I am pretty unfamiliar with players such as Emily Fox, and Sofia Huerta, but from the things that are being said, I think there’s lots of potential. I’ve seen Fox play both on the right and the left side, providing more depth to a position that Crystal Dunn has mainly inhabited for a while. That versatility is especially important because if we look at Dunn’s club statistics, she barely plays in that left back area and is much more suited to play in the midfield. Having Fox as an additional option can possibly open up Dunn’s role. We saw evidence of that in the way Dunn could assume that position in the sendoff game.
We’ve also seen that that Huerta is a crossing machine—according to statistics from the Athletic, she has 5.83 crosses per 100 touches. That makes her pretty lethal when she gets the ball and continuously delivers it to the danger zone. It also shows that if the formation allows, the wing backs can exploit that side channel allowing the wingers in the front to drop or overlap to provide an additional option.
One of the things that people have so much confidence in is the depth that the US has. Even with the depleted squad being brought to the world cup, the US might just have the ability to pull it off because there is such a wealth of players that have such quality. Ultimately, in the back we’ve seen Sauerbrunn as a presence for over 8 years, so it’s going to be quite a change to see how the team adapts. This world cup might play some indication into how the US team looks in a future without many of their veterans. And, we might possibly see tactical changes used to strengthen the team all around. I’m expecting to see the four in the back, but I am also excited to see how Vlatko takes all these concerns into consideration and adapts.
https://theathletic.com/4628038/2023/06/21/uswnt-womens-world-cup-2023-squad-analysis/
