U.S. women’s national team manager Vlatko Andonovski said that do-everything defender Crystal Dunn can compete at any position she wants if she’s unhappy about playing left-back.
Dunn is as versatile a player as there is in the women’s game given her ability to excel in multiple spots on the field. She has spent the bulk of her club career playing as either a midfielder or a forward.
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But with the USWNT — arguably the deepest squad in the world — she has had to play left-back. The switch was first made by former U.S. manager Tom Sermanni back in 2013, and has continued through the tenures of Jill Ellis and now Andonovski.
In an interview with GQ, published Friday Dunn expressed her dissatisfaction at playing left-back, and the emotional toll it takes on her.
“I think it’s hard because I’m the only one who has to do it,” she said. “I step into camp, and I feel like I lose a part of myself. I no longer get to be Crystal who scores goals, assists, is this attacking player.
“I step into an environment where I have to be world-class in a position that I don’t think is my best position. But I’ve owned it. I’ve made it my own, and I’ve tried to create it in my most authentic way. But I don’t love it.
“I love playing and I love competing, so that brings me up to the level that I need to be at, but it really is hard when I look around and I’m like, ‘Well, no one else has to do this.’ I am the only person who does not stay put in one position and always has to change given what my coach thinks of me.”
