The reigning world champion has some soul-searching to do after defeat to Sweden, but its domestic league isn't its big problem
After the United States women’s national team suffered its earliest Women’s World Cup exit in history, the inquests have very much begun. What went wrong? How did this star-studded team fail to perform? How many of these players will we see at this stage again? Will head coach Vlatko Andonovski keep his job?
There’s a lot to get into, from the coach’s poor in-game management during the tournament, to the underperformance of several players and the fact that things never really seemed to click in this era for the USWNT. It hasn’t just been about this World Cup, after all. The Olympics two years ago was problematic, too.
As the U.S. starts its soul-searching, there was one opinion across the Atlantic that caught the eye. Eni Aluko is a former England international who played for three different American clubs during her career, also acting as sporting director in Los Angeles for Angel City for just under two years. Working as an analyst during the World Cup for British broadcaster , she suggested one possible limitation of the USWNT.
“A lot of the players play in the NWSL,” she said. “Lindsey Horan plays in Europe. I think you can see just from Lindsey playing in Europe for the best team in the world, Lyon, you can see her creativity is just a little bit more advanced than the other players. Is that something they can look at? Can more players play in Europe? Where you've got the Champions League, you've got really competitive leagues.”
The NWSL isn’t flawless, there’s no doubt about that, and new experiences can certainly be of benefit to players, sure. But the U.S. still has the best, most competitive and deepest league in the world.
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A rarity
Ali Krieger was the first player to represent the USWNT at the Women’s World Cup while playing her football outside of her home country. The legendary defender was at FFC Frankfurt when Germany hosted the tournament back in 2011, and credited her time in Europe for improving different areas of her game.
“I tell [my USWNT team-mates] every day that it’s amazing,” she said in an interview back in 2011. “Every time they ask me how it is or if I recommend it, I say, ‘Of course’. Look at how much I’ve changed as a player and how much more comfortable I’ve gotten on the ball. My technical and tactical abilities have grown from being in Germany, which to me is the ‘football country’. In Europe in general, it’s the number one sport and I think everyone should have that experience and be a part of it. It’s been unreal for me and I know everyone would enjoy it as well.”
Plenty more players have ventured across the pond for these experiences in the time since. Four of the USWNT's 2015 World Cup winners – Hope Solo, Christen Press, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg – spent time in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, while many stars – such as Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath and Alex Morgan – went to France to play for Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon. The latter currently have Horan and had Catarina Macario, too, until she joined Chelsea this summer.
"We're happy that we have a good relationship with Lyon," Andonovski said earlier this year, after the club released Horan during the season for USWNT games in a non-FIFA window. "We've developed this relationship now because of Lindsey and Catarina, but maybe in the future because of other players that are going to be there."
But even with the exodus from the NWSL to Europe, specifically England’s Women’s Super League, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it remains more of rarity to see USWNT stars abroad. Even when they do choose an experience elsewhere, it’s not often for too long.
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'A whole different ball game'
As Krieger notes, there are benefits as a player to getting out of the U.S. and experiencing European soccer and the culture around it. "I think in America, which this is not saying it's a bad thing, at all, but it's very transitional," Horan, who made her loan from Portland to Lyon a permanent deal recently, explained to GOAL ahead of the World Cup.
"It's very fast-paced, it's very physically demanding, and I don't think a lot of Europeans can survive in our league, just because it smacks them in the face. I remember when Amandine Henry first came to Portland, I think it smacked her in the face because she was like, 'We are running non-stop!' You have to be fit as hell to be playing in this league. It's like a whole different ball game over here.
"I do think some of the football aspects, some of the value in the ball, the possession, the combination, the tiki-taka, all of the stuff that I love, gets taken away because it's so fast-paced. There's so much pressing, there's so much demand in these games that you can't chill for a second and just knock it around.
“I'm not saying there's not any of that in the NWSL, I think it's gotten better, but I think about my team, Lyon, and the players that I play with and the kind of football that I get to play, I'm obsessed! Every single training session, it's so entertaining. It's so much fun! I'm enjoying my football so much."
Europe has completely different styles to the U.S., it develops different areas of a player’s game and gives them a new perspective, too. The chance to play in the Champions League is a big factor as well, allowing a player to come up against different styles of opponents and different challenges – just like in a World Cup.
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NWSL still the best in the world
But if we are talking about the “really competitive leagues,” Europe still has a way to go. In England last year, the title race went to the final day, but after Chelsea and Manchester United, there was a nine-point gap to Arsenal in third. The gap between the Blues, at the top of the table, and Reading, at the bottom of the table, was 47 points. There’s only 66 points to play for in the WSL.
It was a similar story in France. Lyon won the title for a 16th time in 17 seasons, by a margin of six points. There were 13 points between PSG in second and Paris FC in third, while the difference between Lyon, at the top, and Soyaux, at the bottom, was 55 points. Again, there were only 66 to play for.
In Spain, Barcelona won the title again, ahead of Real Madrid by 10 points. There were a further nine points between the club from the capital and Levante in third, and 64 points between Barca at the top and Alaves at the bottom. Liga F has 90 points to play for.
Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga was a little more competitive at the top, Bayern Munich pipping Wolfsburg to the title by two points while Eintracht Frankfurt were only three points behind the latter. But, again, there was a difference of 51 points between top and bottom, historic club Turbine Potsdam – a two-time European champion – relegated with only two wins from 22 matches.
Compare that to the NWSL and it’s another level of competitiveness. The structural differences between the U.S. and Europe cause this, with the drafts in the former equalling things out while the super-rich clubs in the latter are able to take control.
The NWSL is paused right now while the World Cup is played and, with 15 games gone, there is only 11 points between the top club, the North Carolina Courage, and Kansas City Current at the bottom. It's a league where a few wins in a row can rocket you up the standings. It’s a league where anyone can beat anyone.
Of course, the NWSL has had its issues and its flaws, as outlined in harrowing detail by the Yates report last year, but things have improved in the time since and will continue to do so. It’s becoming a hub for young talent, too, which is something that Europe has always had over it until now.
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Room for growth
Having the best league in the world doesn’t mean everything is perfect, though. There are still things that U.S. Soccer and the NWSL can do to help its players and teams improve.
At youth national team level, the U.S. is not a superpower. It has only once progressed from the group stages of the Under-17 Women's World Cup since reaching the final in 2008, even failing to qualify for the tournament on two occasions. Its record at U20 level is better, with the World Cup title clinched in 2008 and 2012, but the team succumbed to group-stage exits in both 2018 and 2022.
How can these records improve? The fact that talents under the age of 18 are now allowed to play in the NWSL could certainly help, but there will be more that U.S. Soccer can do to give these players early winning experiences and expose them to high-pressure moments like finals.
In the league, meanwhile, there are still only 12 teams. For a country the size of the U.S., that’s not a lot. It means there are not too many opportunities for women to play top-level professional soccer. USL has recently announced that it will aim to launch a professional league to rival the NWSL next year. Will that work? Will it help?
There are also questions around the NWSL Challenge Cup, which was formed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It feels like a second-tier competition for the most part, even continuing to operate while the World Cup is being played. Is the best being made of it?
And then there is the lack of international competition. While Europe has the Champions League, CONCACAF has no equivalent on the women’s side. Could something similar to the Leagues Cup be introduced? At the moment, NWSL clubs get their international experiences in friendlies and those games are never going to replicate the level of competitiveness that the Champions League has to offer.