US women's national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has resigned, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The move comes less than two weeks after the Americans were knocked out of the Women's World Cup earlier than ever before. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the move had not been officially announced. An announcement was expected Thursday. The four-time tournament champions struggled throughout the World Cup. A victory over Vietnam to kick off the group stage was followed by a pair of draws against Netherlands and Portugal—barely enough to get the team into the knockout stage.
The Americans played well in the Round of 16 against Sweden, but ultimately fell on penalties after a scoreless tie. The US scored just four goals over the course of the tournament. The United States had never finished worse than third at the World Cup. The 46-year-old Andonovski was named coach of the United States in October 2019, taking over for Jill Ellis, who led the United States to back-to-back World Cup titles. He finished 51-5-9 during his time with the team, and was 3-2-5 in major tournaments. It wasn't just the World Cup that hurt Andonovski's chances of keeping his job: The United States also finished with a disappointing bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Now the process will start to find a replacement, and the timeline is relatively short. The United States has already qualified for the 2024 Olympics in France.
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