US has yet to produce their best at World Cup, says coach

WELLINGTON – The United States have but to supply their greatest efficiency on the Women’s World Cup, coach Vlatko Andonovski stated on Thursday, after the Netherlands held them to a irritating 1-1 draw of their second match of the event in Wellington.

Co-captain Lindsey Horan powered a terrific header into the online to degree the affair within the second half and save the four-times champions from outright embarrassment after not placing up a lot of a battle early on within the match.

It was the primary World Cup draw that the United States have seen since Sweden held them 0-0 on the event in 2015.

“(In) the first half, we allowed them to take control of the tempo and slow down the tempo a lot more than we wanted,” Andonovski instructed reporters, days after the United States beat Vietnam 3-0 of their opener.

The early performances had been under the extent the Americans can obtain due partly to the relative lack of expertise the starters have with each other, he added.

“This team has not had time together. I mean, the first time we see this team together is in game one and now we saw them again in game two. So in game three, we expect it to grow from there,” he instructed reporters.

“As hopefully we move forward, we’re going to see better and better.”

While a lot has been fabricated from the relative inexperience of the U.S. crew, with 14 World Cup newcomers among the many 23-player squad, Andonovski spent treasured pre-tournament time retooling his beginning line-up amid a glut of accidents.

Julie Ertz moved into centre again after veteran Becky Sauerbrunn was dominated out and new addition Savannah DeMelo has taken on extra of a workload with midfield stalwart Rose Lavelle’s minutes restricted.

“(The young players) grew throughout the game individually, but also as a team, we grew throughout the game as well. I’ve said this before, this team is not just young, this team is also a fresh team,” stated Andonovski.

“We’re just going to get better from game to game and we’re going to be a lot more efficient as well.”

The United States shut out their Group E towards Portugal on Tuesday.

—Reuters