United States legend Brandi Chastain has said she does not think Vlatko Andonovski will continue in his role at USWNT head coach following their disappointing round-of-16 exit at the Women’s World Cup.
“No, I don’t think he’ll last,” Chastain told ESPN podcast ‘The Far Post.‘ “Unfortunately, his record doesn’t speak to that. Four of 10 games in big tournaments, four wins, that’s very much under the standard.
The USWNT secured bronze at the Tokyo Olympics but did so by winning only one group stage game, needing penalties to defeat the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, and finally overcoming Australia 4-3 in the third-place playoff.
At the World Cup, a single 3-0 victory against Vietnam was followed by a 1-1- draw against the Netherlands and scoreless draws against Portgual and Sweden with the latter knocking them out on penalties.
“I would say nine out of 10 would have been, we want you to win nine out of 10. And that you’ve only won four, that’s hard,” she added.
The USWNT’s lofty standards have meant that a round of 16 exit was their worst-ever showing at a Women’s World Cup — they had never finished below third prior to 2023. Chastain does not share sympathy for Andonovski and the pressure he faced.
“Coaches have a tough job, believe me, I live with a coach for 37 years coaching, and you live and die by your players,” Chastain said.
“You hope that what you’ve given them is enough to influence the way that they make decisions and how they see the game and the success that they can have. But they’re humans, we’re all fallible, and we make mistakes.”
Chastain questioned if this version of the USWNT had been prepared enough to be adaptable and fluid in the face of a rapidly improving global women’s football landscape.
“Sometimes the opponent presents something differently that maybe we didn’t see coming and we didn’t plan for that. Did we do enough to help our players to be agile enough to make change? I feel like we weren’t that team. And I think we have to be that type of entity,” Chastain said.
“It’s like we’re the biggest shareholder of women’s soccer. And so we have to be better in those moments because the world is looking at you, you have the biggest target and so for that reason, and that reason alone, would be enough to say like we have to move forward [without Andonovski].”
