Women's Sports: Soccer
By: Guadalupe Trujillo
The 2023 Women’s World Cup has left fans all over the world with a flurry of different emotions. USA fans have specifically been left devastated and disappointed. This year, the USA team was eliminated in round 16 by Sweden. The last time the team was eliminated was back in 2011 against Japan during the finals. This year's loss took the whole world by surprise and the players as well as the coaches have been under critique. Not only do they have something to say about the players and coaches, but fans have a lot to say about this elimination on the internet too.
The Players’ Performance
A lot has been said about the players and how they performed during the game. Some people blame them, and others think they genuinely did their best. Fans have defended the team from bad critique saying that the USA played well. After conducting an interview with Maritza Ledesma, a former high school and college soccer player, she has expressed her own opinions about the World Cup and the players from her perspective as a former soccer player.
Mrs. Trujillo stated, “It was sad to see them get eliminated because they actually fought really hard the whole game, they were dominating for a big part of the game, reaching the opposing goal but when they would get there, they were not able to finish.” Many people share these same sentiments, but others are glad about this loss. According to The Boston Globe, critics have said, “Many criticized the team as “woke” and “America-hating” and focused their ire on Megan Rapinoe, a veteran player who missed a crucial penalty kick during the decisive shootout.” In addition to this, fans also think there was bad chemistry between the players. Mrs. Ledesma says, “In the game before the round of 16 they were playing lost and like they have never played with each other before. I do not know if they possibly got cocky or if they were just nervous knowing they had to win to go to the next round.” The team's performance has clearly been questioned by everyone with both negative and positive critiques.
Evaluation of Coach
Coaches are the foundation of a team. They make all the important decisions and lead the team. This is probably why Vlatko Andonovski got so much critique after the devastating loss. He has been the coach of the United States women's national team since 2019. According to the US Soccer website, sadly he has resigned and is no longer their coach. Vlatko Andonosvki resigned on August 17th, 2023. To get a coach's point of view about Andonovski’s resignation we spoke to Eliseo Ayala who is Greenfield High School’s soccer coach, who is also a former player. Based on social media reactions it is safe to say that a lot of fans think that Andonovski resigning because of a loss is not a desirable choice. Mr. Ayala tells us, “No I would not retire after that. To be honest I don't think the U.S. team played well because it's on the other side of the world and national teams like that have a challenging time playing in other countries that are far away from home.” Coach Ayala would not make the same choice as Andonosvki but he also does not blame him for the loss and thinks it was just bad circumstances. According to the New York Times, Vlatko Andonosvki’s resignation was not unexpected. The New York Times states, “Andonovski’s resignation was not unexpected. The United States greatly underperformed at this year’s Women’s World Cup after winning the previous two tournaments. The team had its earliest elimination in tournament history after losing a penalty shootout to rival Sweden in the round of 16.” A new coach has recently been assigned to the USA women’s soccer team and although it is upsetting that Andonosvki has left, we will look forward to the future of the team. 
Fans Reactions
Most people would say that fans are the most important critics considering they are the support behind these teams. Therefore, fan reactions are always an important topic. Based on social media, after the elimination of the USA team, fans worldwide had their own opinions. In a recent interview with Blas Trujillo who was a former soccer player and a fan of the USA women's team, he shared his feelings, “I was surprised, it's something that I feel a lot of people have gotten used to, to see us win and come out on top. I'm sure it was just as shocking to the players as it was to the fans considering they too must have been so used to their dominance.” Although fans have been supportive of the team after the loss, they also have critiques. Blas Trujillo himself has some critiques to share, “It came down to penalties, the penalty that was scored against them to take the game was in by a few inches if not less. That being said, if they had scored all of their penalties they would not have had to worry at that point. They should practice their penalties.”
These reactions are not only expressed in person but also online. In this era of social media fans tend to express their feelings through sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Through these sites, fans have expressed their feelings, both negative and positive, about the USA team's elimination. A lot of these reactions were sympathizing and supportive such as a tweet by a fan saying, “There was some doubt and criticism on Alyssa pre-tournament yet she showed she deserved every start, every minute. Hell of a match today for her. Even crushed her damn PK. What a rockstar.” Another one of these tweets by fans said, “Oh that’s the cruelest way to go out.” These fans clearly loyally support their team and believe they tried their best.
The USA team and their coach have clearly had a tough time after experiencing this loss. We hope that this will make them stronger, and they can move on to other remarkable things. Their fans are looking forward to seeing them train and work hard in order to not make the same mistakes again. We hope that they adjust to their new circumstances like having a new coach and better themselves. Although they got eliminated from the Women’s World Cup early on, we are excited to see what the future holds for the team.