PHEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW.
It was anxiety-inducing enough for the U.S. women’s national team to carry three losses in a row heading into Sunday’s friendly vs. Germany, but no one — NO ONE — wants to go into the history books as being that team to lose four straight games for the first time in the USWNT’s history. Not to mention: it would have been the last USWNT game of the calendar year, and the USWNT would then be heading into the World Cup year on a loss. UGH.
Hence, it is not surprising that you could practically hear the collective exhale of the U.S. team after Sunday’s come-from-behind 2-1 win against a very good German team.
We will talk about Sunday’s comeback — and whether or not the win means we can stop worrying about the USWNT’s recent form — but let’s first start with the palpable panic caused by the three straight losses heading into Sunday. They were a 2-1 loss to No. 4-ranked England at Wembley in October, followed by a 2-0 loss days later to No. 8-ranked Spain in Spain (and a very depleted Spain team, mind you, given the current fight between top players and their federation), and then the 2-1 loss to No. 3 ranked Germany in Florida on Thursday night.
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I am not going to say I was panic-free (or that I wasn’t screaming at the TV during the games I wasn’t calling for ESPN), but it did cause me to consider the question we all should be grappling with: Is it even realistic for us to be expecting our USWNT to dominate the world stage to the degree we have in the past given the global growth of women’s football?
The reality is, as I wrote about recently, the world (and particularly Europe) has gotten so much better. Given that growth, should we expect that the USWNT win 24/7, 365 days a year? Should we expect a young, transitioning team to be in top form eight months before a World Cup, when half that starting lineup has never even played in a World Cup, and playing against three countries who have a legitimate shot at winning this next World Cup?
