THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2020US remain team to beat despite
change of coach
World champions face England in the SheBelieves Cup (Getty)
RICH LAVERTY
Under normal circumstances, the world champions heading into a major tournament off the back of losing
their double World Cup winning head coach would leave a sense of opportunity floating through the air for
the chasing pack.
The Tokyo Olympics in July will be the first tournament in eight years the US women’s national team have
headed into without Portsmouth-born Jill Ellis at the helm, the 53-year-old having stepped down weeks
after leading the US to a second successive World Cup last summer.
So, what do you get the team that’s won everything? The person who is best placed to continue such
success, obviously.
It’s been left to Macedonian maestro Vlatko Andonovski, a man who once set foot as a player in the
European Cup, to lead Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Rose Lavelle and co into a brave new era.