The United States Women’s National Team narrowly advanced to the knockout round of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Tuesday with an uninspiring scoreless draw against Portugal, leading to some heavy criticism from USWNT legend Carli Lloyd. And now, head coach Vlatko Andonovski has responded to that critique.
Following the match, Lloyd – now an analyst for Fox – did not hold back in blasting the team’s mentality, especially after the team was seen dancing and smiling on the field despite nearly being eliminated by a Portugal shot that bounced off the post in stoppage time.
Andonovski was not happy with Lloyd’s critique, calling her comments “insane.”
"To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete… I think it's insane."
USWNT Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski, when asked to respond to postgame criticisms made by @CarliLloyd and some of the @FOXSports crew https://t.co/PFn5C8cDZJ pic.twitter.com/O600CE3BW4
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 1, 2023
“The one thing that I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else. They put everything they could in preparation for this tournament, and in every game that it goes,” Andonovski said in response to Lloyd’s comments. “So to question that mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete – I think it’s insane.”
Andonovski made it clear that Lloyd is well within her rights to criticize the team, but he does not agree with her assessment.
“I’ve seen this team step on the field and not try hard or not compete,” Andonovski said. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. They can say whatever they want. But I just know how this team feels.”
And while he may not have agreed with Lloyd’s characterization of the team, he did acknowledge that the team did not play as well as he would have hoped.
“It’s not like we played well by any means,” Andonovski said. “We owned it. We know it’s not good enough. We’re not happy with our performance. But we qualified for the next round – we’re moving on.”
