‘I love the prospects of another challenge’
Family matters will determine whether Coach Tony DiCicco remains at the helm of the United States women’s world championship team through the Olympics.
SOCCER AMERICA: What have you been doing since we saw you in Pasadena?
TONY DICICCO: I’ve been playing a lot of golf, coaching my sons’ teams – helping out with all of them – trying to be a father and a husband. There’s been a lot of opportunities; I’ve taken advantage of some, some are coming up.
SA: Is it official? Are you coming back to coach at the Sydney Olympics next year?
TD: It’s not official. My contract is up at the end of the year. There’s a period of evaluation both I and U.S. Soccer have to go through. I am coaching the team now and making plans for the Olympics, whether I or someone else will be coach. I’m excited to start working on things, see what some of the possibilities are, see some new players. I’m very excited.
SA: What are the chances you will return?
TD: Fifty-fifty, in my opinion.
SA: What are the primary issues?
TD: Family. I spend a lot of time away, and it’s got to be something I know I can balance that works for my family. My best scenario is I’m coaching this team for a long time. I love working with this team. I love the prospects of another challenge here, the Olympics, and I love the prospects after the Olympics, how good this team can be with new players.
The downside is the amount of time away from my family. They’ve spent a lot of time without a dad around, without a husband around. They’ve made it easy for me to show up for a couple days, then leave. It’s hard on me, but it’s harder on them.
SA: When should we expect a decision?
TD: It has to be made at the very latest by the end of the year. If someone else is taking over, you want to make sure he has enough time to do what he needs to do, to put things in place the way he wants them. If I make the decision, it will be before then.
You can’t just make the decision a week or a month after you finish the World Cup. It has to go through a process, and it is going through a process. I don’t push it, and I know it will come to me.
And on the other side of the equation, U.S. Soccer is going through a process. They haven’t said, “You are the Olympic coach, we want you to stay on.” They’re in the process of evaluating the program, looking ahead. I’m very comfortable with the job myself and my coaching staff have done.
SA: Did you receive any attention, or offers, from other federations after the World Cup?
TD: There were a couple contacts, but I’m not at liberty to say anything about them.
‘Emotional response was so powerful’
SA: What will you always carry with you from the past summer?
TD: I just think the team reached a level of unity I’ve never been part of myself and probably only witnessed once or twice with any team before.
The other thing was our fans. The feelings, the support we felt from our fans, they were so passionate about us. They were living and dying with every touch of the ball. It was what we always wanted to achieve with soccer, and to see that achieved and have our team triggering it, well, that emotional response was so powerful.
SA: Were you happy with how the U.S. played during the Cup, as opposed to the result?
TD: I know we didn’t play our best soccer. But I know we competed as well as we’ve ever competed, and we did some things very well – our set pieces, [Briana Scurry’s] play in goal – and that’s why we won.
Overall, our possession wasn’t as good as it can be. Our play in the attacking third was not as good as it usually is. As a coach, as a purist, I wish we’d had a better flow with our attacking play. I thought defensively, we did a lot of good things.
SA: You play Brazil on Sept. 26, then have U.S. Women’s Cup games in early October against South Korea, Finland and the Brazilians. What are you looking to accomplish?
TD: We want to win the games, of course. I don’t have a tremendous amount of objectives beyond that. This is a period I’d like the players to get extra rest. I’m looking where I want to be next September. When you back up, you don’t want a lot of heavy training right after the World Cup, 12 months out from the Olympics.
We want to play a bit freer, be better possessing the ball, do the things we did well in the World Cup but improve on the quality of soccer. If we can do that, win the games and get out healthy, it will be a total success.
SA: Are we going to see any new players in these games?
TD: By contract, the “Victory Tour” games can only have world champions, and these are “Victory Tour” games.
‘Hoping for residency program’
SA: Does that handcuff you at all?
TD: No, it’s the reality of it. I’m thinking of having a separate training camp in December for college players that don’t have finals conflicts and for a bunch of other players we’ve identified. And I’m still hoping we’ll have a residency program again.
It gives every player the opportunity to help us win, not just in the Olympics, but in the future. That’s what residency does. Aly Wagner is a much hotter player internationally because she spent the last year in residency and came close to making the team. You’ll be a better player training day-in and day-out with world champions.
My plan – and nothing is confirmed – is to do a larger residency group, with two teams’ worth [of players], 36 players, something like that. We’ll have a team training for the Olympics and a team training for post-Olympics.
SA: It isn’t certain U.S. Soccer will sponsor another year in residency.
TD: Right. It’s still to be decided. There are pros and cons to it. The cons are basically the financial commitment to us. We’re hoping there might be some municipalities that want to have the U.S. women’s Olympic team training in town, that might be willing to underwrite some of the expense.
SA: What trips will the team be taking before the Olympics?
TD: We’re working on it. Not everything is confirmed.
I think we’ll take a trip to Australia the first of the year. Norway may come in early in February. We’ll go to Portugal in March for the Algarve Cup, in April and May probably play some domestic games, then in June there’s the Pacific Cup – and Olympic run-through – in Australia.
I’m concerned about the offseason, in that we have an offseason. If we don’t have one, it could be difficult for the players to peak next September.
by Soccer America senior editor Scott French