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The USWNT entered the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup as the heavy favorites to take home the trophy. They had won the previous two World Cups, and came into this year's tournament with a 13-game World Cup win streak that went back to 2015. Complete dominance. Then, they barely escaped the group stage after winning one game and tying two, and ultimately fell in the first round of the knockout stage against Sweden. It was an unfortunate World Cup to say the least. After the disappointing result, the USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski stepped down. The search for a new coach begins.
Former USWNT manager Jill Ellis has her eye on a potential candidate: her former assistant coach and current Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson. Ellis notices the similarities between Australia now and the US teams that she and Gustavsson coached, and she is impressed by what she sees.
“I watched them play against France in the warm-up game, and I remember going, ‘This is a well-oiled machine. They're going to make a deep run in this tournament,'” Ellis said according to an article from ESPN. “You could just see it, the way they stepped together and moved together. It just reminded me a lot of our team in 2019. We were a very well-oiled machine, prepared for any situation.”
Australia did make a deep run in this year's World Cup, but they did fall in the semis on Wednesday against England. Now, Ellis believes that Gustavsson should be considered for the USWNT job.
“He should definitely be a strong candidate for the job,” Ellis said.
The search has only just begun, and who knows how long it will take before a new manager is named, but there's no question that Tony Gustavsson should be considered.