As we get started here, I’m going to drop an unknown fact into the soccerverse: the United States women’s national team’s roster is absolutely loaded with attacking talent across their frontline. You’ve never heard that before, have you? Okay fine, you’ve probably heard that before. You’ve probably seen it with your own eyes before, too.
It’s great to have talent, and it’s even greater to have a host of talented options in the forward positions. Still, the tricky part of having that much talent is deciding what the best combinations of players are for any given matchup. U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski is clearly still trying to figure out his ideal starting group ahead of the 2023 World Cup that kicks off next week, with the USWNT opening their tournament against Vietnam on Friday, July 21.
In the United States’ send-off match against Wales on July 9, Andonovski began with a frontline of Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan, and Alyssa Thompson to start the match.
The Smith-Morgan-Thompson frontline – and the U.S. attack at large – really struggled to find a groove for the first hour of this match. The offense looked disjointed and stagnant and the team failed to create meaningful chances. At halftime, Trinity Rodman came on for Morgan. Williams entered the match in the 64th minute, moving into the front three while Alyssa Thompson moved to the bench. After those changes, the attack started clicking: the U.S. scored two goals and closed out this match with a shut-out win.
The dichotomy between the attacking performances of the first 60 minutes and the last third of this game begs the question: which three players make up the best combination of the U.S. up top?
