The United States Women’s National Team has not been quite as dominant throughout its run through the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as most expected, and that included an uninspiring 0-0 draw against Portugal in the group stage final last week. It was a hard-fought game, and the Portugal head coach had a pretty brutal assessment of the USWNT after the match.
The United States clearly has one of the most talented lineups in the world every time it takes the field, but as Portugal head coach Francisco Neto explains, they’re a little disjointed and disorganized when they aren’t playing with possession.
“We know that the players of the U.S. are amazing,” Portugal coach Francisco Neto said according to Fox Sports. “But they suffer when they don’t have the ball.”
Obviously, Portugal was able to capitalize on this weakness with their aggressive play last week. Portugal forced a lot of United States turnovers and forced the USWNT to play without the ball for a significant portion of the match, and it nearly led to a Portugal victory with a late shot bouncing off the post.
We’ll have to see if this is something the United States can solve ahead of their next pivotal match against Sweden.
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