"CHESTER, Pa. -- A frustrated United States women's national team head coach Emma Hayes said her team was unrecognizable in its 2-1 loss to Portugal on Thursday at Subaru Park. "I didn't recognize us," Hayes said. "We just rushed everything, we went direct. We didn't look like the team that we'd been working on, but that's what happens when you've got 113 days apart.""
"Hayes called Thursday's loss, the team's first against Portugal in 12 matches, the most irritating of her 18 months in charge thus far, because of the way the team played. "I was frustrated this evening because I felt like a game of a whack-a-mole," Hayes said, repeatedly hitting her hand on the table in the press conference room to illustrate the point. "I felt like if I put something out then I was whacking that. That's how the game felt for me as a coach, and I've been doing this for so long - I hate them games.""
The United States women’s national team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Portugal at Subaru Park, marking the team’s third loss of the calendar year and its first loss to Portugal in 12 matches. Emma Hayes described the team as unrecognizable, citing rushed, direct play and a long 113-day gap between international windows as factors. Defensive mistiming and a failure to win duels contributed, with both goals conceded from corner kicks. Earlier losses this year came against Japan and Brazil amid experiments with younger players. Midfielder Sam Coffey rejected rust as an excuse, calling such rationales a cop-out and pointing to team standards.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]