Game plan failing you? They’ll just brute force it.

This has long been a group touted as the most mentally resilient, toughest, bounce-back-from-a-loss bunch of players in the game, with a mental and physical reserve always ready in their back pocket. That context is instructional going the other way though, because for so long the USWNT has been the team that could and should simply power through whatever technical or tactical ailments plagued them at the moment. So do keep that in mind, particularly in looking at the second game against Spain when it seemed like no one could really get the team’s engine going.

It’s been hard to kind of find joy all the time.” That’s really hard for me personally, and especially with all the work you’ve put in for that team and that club, that’s where I feel hurt and disturbed and obviously, just so much anger for these players as well.”Īnd Crystal Dunn said after the England game, “It’s been a tough week for a lot of players. Lindsey Horan, herself a Portland Thorn on loan, concurred “I’m a part of an organization (Portland) I’ve always felt very proud to play for, a team I fight on the field for, a club I fight on the field for, so it’s hard to read this and look back at that and feel proud to play for an organization like that. We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted, and really, really angry.” Every single pre- and post-game press conference in England and Spain was a repeat of questions asking the players how they felt, how they were processing the news, what the mood was in camp.ĭefender and captain Becky Sauerbrunn said it outright days before the England game: “The players are not doing well.

This was not simply a report that gave additional detail on known misconduct, but one that also revealed new extremely traumatic information on alleged abuse and sexual assault and amply demonstrated how these players had been failed by multiple officials and organizations at every turn for years. First, we should place these losses in their proper context: You simply cannot discount the demoralizing mental effect the release of the Yates report had on the team.

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