Over the course of his stay, he will have noted that the threats to the United States’ hegemony are many and varied: a French side sufficiently gifted to beat the Dutch, the defeated World Cup finalists of three years ago, despite the absence of three of its brightest stars a Germany reborn thanks to the blazing promise of Lina Magull and Lena Oberdorf.Īnd, of course, most notably, an England team blessed with a depth of resources and richness of talent that perhaps makes it the equal of the United States, a team imbued with a conviction and a purpose by its coach, Sarina Wiegman, and now pulsing with the confidence and self-belief that only triumph can bring. In a host of ways, Euro 2022 represented a seismic shift for women’s soccer in England and in Europe: the size of the crowds, the interest of the television audiences, the immediately discernible boost in momentum and, most pressing for Andonovski, in terms of the caliber of its play. Andonovski will have departed Europe in no doubt that next summer will not be quite so insouciant as this one. He seemed unperturbed, unruffled.ĭo not, though, be fooled. He chatted happily with the phalanx of other managers and executives and scouts gathered in the tournament’s various directors’ boxes. (France, futilely.)Īndonovski, the United States women’s coach, seemed quite relaxed that night in Rotherham, just as he has throughout his stay in England for the final stages of Euro 2022. He had, apparently, seen enough of both France and the Netherlands. More than ever, this season, the winner will be the last one standing.Ī few minutes before the final whistle, Vlatko Andonovski rose from his seat, smoothed the figure-hugging salmon-pink sweater he had chosen for the occasion, summoned his colleagues and made for the exit. They were, instead, flown across the world and then run into the ground. The players were not gently introduced to the longest, strangest season of their careers. Tottenham, like the rest of the Premier League’s big beasts, had seen preseason as a chance to take the show on the road, to play a couple of money-spinning exhibition games around the globe. What was so noteworthy about Ventrone’s brutal training session in Seoul was not that it was taking place on the eve of a season in which managers might have been expected to safeguard their players’ fitness, rather than risk burning them out long before the end, but that it was in South Korea at all. Perhaps the squads of the self-appointed aristocrats are so strong that they will emerge not only unscathed, but with their dominance somehow enhanced.Īll that can be certain is that there will be an impact. Perhaps the gap between the elite and the also-rans is now so great that it takes more than a few weary limbs to level the playing field. As usual, the return of the Premier League brings with it a suite of known unknowns that will define the season: Will Erik ten Hag turn Manchester United around? Why has Pep Guardiola decided that Manchester City does not need a full complement of substitutes? Can Arsenal be trusted? Quite what its impact will be is difficult to predict. This World Cup is not just a hiatus, a brief intermission to the season it is a lacuna, a disconnect, a deus ex machina. In between, some of them will have taken part in seven of the most important games of their careers, all of that stress and emotion and exertion condensed into only a few weeks and played out in a series of purpose-built stadiums surrounded by towns and neighborhoods that exist for no reason other than the staging of a single event. Exactly a week after it finishes, those employed by teams in the Premier League, at least, will be expected to take up the cudgels once more. Eight days before the tournament starts, most of the players summoned by their nations will still be locked in club combat in Europe.
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