Spirits soar as U.S. women settle into new version of old system and capture Gold Cup title
The United States wanted to show that the difference between itself and Brazil was still more than the flip of a coin. By defeating their rapidly improving South American rival in the final of the inaugural Women’s Gold Cup, the U.S. women not only met that objective but also reached a new level of confidence under national team coach April Heinrichs.
While the margin of victory was just 1-0, the championship game bore little resemblance to the scoreless tie the teams had played six days earlier in their last group phase match. Statistically, the two games looked similar. The United States had an 18-8 advantage in shots and 13-3 edge in corner kicks in the draw compared to margins of 20-11 in shots and 11-2 in corner kicks during the final.
The group stage meeting seemed a stalemate of equals from the outset. This time, the United States moved the ball with authority it hadn’t shown consistently in the tournament and relentlessly pressured Brazil into making turnovers.
Heinrichs surprised her players before the Gold Cup began by re-introducing the three-forward formation the team had traditionally used under former coach Tony DiCicco. Heinrichs had previously favored a 4-4-2 alignment, but the team had not taken to it as she hoped. After again watching a tape of the World Cup final victory over China, Heinrichs made the switch.
Weak opponents such as Trinidad & Tobago and Costa Rica were no way to gauge the system, since the U.S. players could rely entirely on their athletic prowess and still win. A sad statement on the gap those two nations face was that the United States outscored them a combined 19-0 without playing particularly well.
When the goals came to an abrupt halt against Brazil, Heinrichs and the players briefly considered abandoning the 4-3-3 at halftime, but Heinrichs decided to stick with it, and eventually her patience was rewarded.
“Every coach makes tough decisions and if you win, it appears as if you know what you’re doing, but if you lose, it appears as if you don’t,” Heinrichs said. “You make the substitution and if she’s the one that scores the goal for you, you’re brilliant. If she’s the one that makes the mistake, then you’re an idiot.”
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. Although the numbers of the current formation match the one DiCicco used in leading the women to the World Cup title, the players insist that the way it is played has changed. Besides several key personnel differences (Joy Fawcett in central defense and Lorrie Fair in defensive midfield), players said there is more emphasis on improvisation with the ball and better organization without it.
After defeating Brazil in front of a giddy crowd of 20,123 at Foxboro Stadium, veteran forwards Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett gushed about Heinrichs’ methods.
“Right now, all over the field, I think we feel this freedom,” Hamm said. “This freedom to go out there and express ourselves and not worry about making mistakes.”
The goal against Brazil was a classy effort that illustrated the team’s flexibility in attack. Hamm, who had been prowling successfully on the right side for most of the first half, surfaced on the left side with time, space and the ball. She made an aggressive cut toward the center, surely looking to open up a 23-yard blast, so when she drew back her right leg, several Brazilians froze. But when Hamm’s shooting foot came down it slowed to place a precise pass to Milbrett. Milbrett, sensing all eyes were on Hamm, had skulked into the most dangerous on-side spot she could find – smack in the middle of the penalty area – and guided the ball into the side netting with a masterful first touch.
Milbrett said one example of Heinrichs’ impact on her game is her increased willingness to shoot whenever she gets even a glimpse of the goal.
“What started happening towards the end of Tony’s tenure is that he started to become a little micro-managerial,” said Milbrett, who was named the Gold Cup MVP. “It stifled a lot of the creativity on this team. With April, everything she has accomplished this year is because of her coaching style; her ability to put the game back on our shoulders. … People aren’t worried about if they should have passed here or there, they’re just in the flow of the game.”
MORE COMPACT, MORE EFFECTIVE. Despite the inevitable feeling of offensive futility that followed 120 minutes of being shut out by Brazil, Heinrichs felt the tactical mistakes the team made in that game were on defense. She used the 4-1 semifinal victory over Canada to work on shrinking the space in midfield when the opponent had possession and anticipating the long balls on counterattacks.
The tweaking worked in the final as the U.S. defense dominated the usually dynamic Brazilian attack. Sissi took advantage of a Cindy Parlow turnover to ring a 28-yard shot off the crossbar early, Katia whacked a volley inches high in the 29th minute and Mullinix used her shin guards to foil Cidinha’s short breakaway in the 60th. Aside from those three chances, Brazil rarely got a whiff of the U.S. penalty area.
Right back Christie Pearce had trouble with speedy substitute Maycon early in the second half, but Fawcett and Kate Sobrero alertly provided cover. Sissi had such difficulty getting touches in the offensive portion of the field that she strayed backward as the game progressed. In the late stages, Hamm and Milbrett came back to lend extra help.
Heinrichs stopped short of calling the Gold Cup title her most satisfying victory so far as coach, noting the pivotal importance of the Algarve Cup, which the team had never won before. But with its fifth trophy of the year in hand, the team certainly took another positive step toward Australia.
“The Gold Cup was a time in our schedule to start narrowing down a starting lineup,” said Heinrichs. “Of course, we want to win the tournament, but what I told the team before is that winning is just the icing on the cake. The process, the journey, the growth we’ve had over the last five games is what is going to take us to become the single best team that we can be and that is what really matters in the Olympics.”
by Soccer America associate editor Will Kuhns