Washington's USWNT players return to Spirit
Less than a minute into her Washington Spirit return Saturday, Ashley Sanchez showed no signs of the enormous disappointment that followed her back from U.S. women’s national soccer team duty at the World Cup.
A second-half substitute in a scoreless match, the 24-year-old midfielder combined with Ouleymata Sarr and whistled a 12-yard shot into the near side of the net.
The Houston Dash is not the Swedish national team and a National Women’s Soccer League match is not a World Cup knockout game. But to those who also watched the U.S. squad sputter throughout the group stage and fail to capitalize on myriad opportunities in the round of 16, Sanchez’s instant impact last weekend rekindled questions about coach Vlatko Andonovski’s decision-making.
On Wednesday, following the Spirit’s training session ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the Portland Thorns at Audi Field, Sanchez was reluctant to talk about her absence of playing time in New Zealand and Australia.
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“Let’s just say the role [she was told by Andonovski she would fill at the tournament] was not what I played,” she said, declining to elaborate.
For much of the past 18 months, Sanchez was Rose Lavelle’s primary backup in attacking midfield. With Lavelle sidelined by injury for months leading to the World Cup, Sanchez figured to play considerable minutes at the tournament, even if she didn’t start every game.
In the group stage, however, newcomer Savannah DeMelo replaced Lavelle in the lineup for the first two matches. In the third game — the U.S. team’s worst of the tournament — Lavelle started and neither Sanchez nor DeMelo played.
With Lavelle serving a yellow-card suspension for the round-of-16 defeat to Sweden, Andonovski started two defensive midfielders and left Sanchez and DeMelo on the bench all game.
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End of carouselWith the World Cup approaching, Sanchez had started five matches and subbed into three others. During the tournament, Andonovski did not address Sanchez’s absence, though his praise of DeMelo early in the visit suggested Sanchez had slipped on the depth chart at training camp before the flight to Oceania.
Last week, following the worst U.S. World Cup performance in history, Andonovski stepped down.
Spirit Coach Mark Parsons said Wednesday that he was surprised Sanchez was not used as even a sub on a team that scored one goal over its last three matches and zero in its last two. (It hadn’t been shut out in consecutive games since March 2017.) But as a longtime NWSL coach and former Dutch national team coach, he also understands roster complexities.
“There were at least a couple of games, tactically, that’s Sanchez,” Parsons said. “And some games would have been harder for Sanchez.”
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Sanchez was among four Spirit players on the U.S. squad. Forward Trinity Rodman started three times and came off the bench once. Midfielder Andi Sullivan played every minute. Aubrey Kingsbury, the third-string goalkeeper, did not play.
Given their workload, Rodman and Sullivan were given additional time off by the Spirit. Kingsbury returned to Washington’s lineup in Houston and was perfect until the Dash’s late equalizer. Sanchez entered in the 62nd minute and scored in the 63rd.
“Yeah, it felt really good,” she said. “Honestly, I needed that.”
Rodman, Sanchez’s best friend on the team, was home watching.
“I jumped off the couch and started screaming,” Rodman said. “That was so sick. I saw it coming from a mile away. As soon as she started dribbling up the field. I was like, ‘Yep, she’s back.’ ”
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When Sanchez scored, Sullivan jumped into the Spirit’s group chat.
“I was maniacally laughing” with emojis, she said. “It was just so amazing.”
Parsons said: “Revenge mode was coming. It came really quick, and I think that helps. Being involved, she’s now feeling good.”
Despite getting passed over at the World Cup, Sanchez remained upbeat in U.S. circles, Sullivan said.
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“There’s so much stress and tension [at a major tournament], and she had the loudest laugh, making jokes around the meal room,” Sullivan said. “I was just more impressed with her for that because [amid the frustration] she was still giving.”
Kingsbury added: “I felt for her because I know her skill level and ability and that she can really be a game changer. She handled it as well as she could have.”
Given the expectations for a third straight title, Spirit players were not surprised Andonovski won’t continue.
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“Getting knocked out as quickly as we did … I guess it’s easy for people to say it’s the coach’s fault,” Rodman said. “I do believe he was a great coach. He helped me improve a lot.”
Said Kingsbury: “I like Vlatko. He’s a good coach. And I felt we were prepared for the games, but there was clearly a disconnect between our preparation and then what actually was executed in the game. That’s not good enough for the U.S. women’s national team. So you have got to make changes, and hopefully we can get things right before the Olympics.”
Guided by interim coach Twila Kilgore, a World Cup assistant, the United States will regroup for friendlies against South Africa on Sept. 21 in Cincinnati and Sept. 24 in Chicago. The U.S. Soccer Federation’s aim is to hire a permanent replacement this fall to begin preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the meantime, U.S. players will attempt to get beyond the emotional toll of a lost World Cup.
“I’ve accepted it’s going to be a long process,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to probably keep being emotional for me, but I feel like I have a lot of support. The best way to move forward from it is to move forward. And being back here with the team has definitely helped my emotions, for sure.”
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