After back-to-back Women’s World Cup trophies, the US Women’s National team was the odds-on favorite to win the 2023 tournament. Instead, the USWNT went out in the first game of the knockout round after playing Sweden to a 0-0 draw and losing 5-4 on penalties. Now, after the massive failure on the world’s biggest soccer stage, rumors are that USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski is set to resign.

Andonovski took over from USWNT coach Jill Ellis following the team’s last Women’s World Cup victory. And since then, he led the team to a disappointing bronze medal finish in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the team’s worst World Cup performance ever.

Now, with his contract set to expire at the end of 2023, reports from multiple sources indicate that Vlatko Andonovski will resign before his contract ends.

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The USWNT head coach has faced harsh criticism from former national team stars and football pundits alike since his squad was knocked out of the World Cup. The complaints range from his inability to change tactics, his unwillingness to use substitutes, and relying on ineffective veterans like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe too much.

His team scored just three goals on 28 shots on target in its opener vs. Vietnam, then added just one goal (on a penalty shot) in the next three Women’s World Cup matches vs. the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden.

The next USWNT coach will have to get the team’s budding young stars — like Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Naomi Girma, and Alyssa Thompson — ready for the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2027 World Cup, which will be held either in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, Brazil, South Africa, or the US and Mexico.