Vlatko Andonovski accepts the pressure of leading the elite US team, a mission that demands perfection

Vlatko Andonovski compares the gift he has been given to a precious jewel. Because like a gem, Andonovski's US women's soccer team was forged under heat and pressure and had to wait years for his brilliance to be recognized.

"When it's successful, then people will look at the team more," she said. “This group of women are amazing footballers. They are like a diamond.”

And while diamonds don't tarnish, they can lose their shine if not cared for properly, and that's where Andonovski comes in. The team he inherited from Jill Ellis after winning the 2019 Women's World Cup was already the best in history.

The team that Andonovski will take to the Tokyo Olympics this week is arguably better.

"People don't see or understand how much these players want to grow," said Andonovski, whose 22-player roster includes 17 from the undefeated World Cup team. "Their hunger to improve and be the best version of themselves is really greater than that of the players who are not in the selection."

"That's what excites me as a coach, regardless of where I am."

Getting to where Andonovski is required a dizzying and unlikely journey.

FORMER USWNT COACH JILL ELLIS ON CURRENT COACH VLATKO ANDONOVSKI

He was born in Skopje, a city of more than 500,000 inhabitants that was then part of Yugoslavia and is now the capital of North Macedonia. As a central defender, he played for three professional clubs in Skopje before joining the Wichita Wings, beginning a tour of the United States that would lead him to play for four indoor soccer teams in four states in six years, being part of two teams. of stars.

His rise as a coach was even faster.

Andonovski started 11 years ago as an assistant in the Major Indoor Soccer League, then took charge of FC Kansas City for the inaugural NWSL season in 2013. He guided the team to two championships in three seasons before moving to the OL Reign in 2018. , leading him to back-to-back playoff semifinal appearances.

Sixteen days after that second playoff loss, he was named to succeed Ellis, becoming, at 43, the third-youngest US women's team coach in history and the youngest since 2000. Almost two years and 23 matches later, he remains unbeaten as national coach, with only a draw with Sweden tarnishing an otherwise perfect record.

But Andonovski's youth comes with a different level of experience. Although Ellis managed or was part of the coaching staff of the United States in two World Cups and three Olympic Games, Andonovski, 44, has never participated in a major international tournament, and the first in which he will take place with the against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is sure to introduce distractions and disruptions in Tokyo.

Ellis isn't worried.

"With everything he's done so far, he's experienced enough that coming into that environment he handles it like a charm," he said. "Then again, maybe it's not a problem, because in this Olympiad that will be so different, everyone will go through it under the situation that we live in for the first time."

If it doesn't happen that way, Andonovski won't have to look any further than his locker room for help, as the players on his roster have an average of 92 caps and a combined 77 games of Olympic experience. (FIFA recently ruled that Olympic teams can take 22 active players from their rosters, instead of 18 players and four substitutes. However, only 18 players can wear the uniform for matches.)

"I'm not afraid to ask the players questions," said Andonovski, who has also had conversations with Ellis and US Soccer CEO Kate Markgraf, who won a World Cup and three Olympic medals as a player.

“I ask Carli Lloyd. I ask Becky Sauerbrunn and Megan Rapinoe,” he said. "I want to know everything because I have not been there, I have not lived it."

That curiosity comes naturally to Andonovski, a warm and humorous man who speaks multiple languages ​​and has the calm, contemplative demeanor of a liberal arts professor. He is not easily angered and his confidence in his skills as a coach and communicator allows him to admit that he doesn't know everything.

“He's one of the best coaches I've ever played for,” said Lloyd, who will be participating in his fourth Olympic tournament.

“Vlatko has no ego. That is what makes him such a special coach. He is incredibly comfortable with who he is as a person and as a coach. He has a philosophy, he is always fully prepared, he always takes into account all the details.”

He is also insatiable. In Tokyo, the United States will have the opportunity to become the first team of both genders to win a world and Olympic title in the same cycle. But to focus on just that, says Andonovski, would be to undersell the team.

“I want to be the first team to win the Olympics and the World Cup, and the Olympics and the World Cup that follow,” he said. "I want to be the first team to keep winning."

“It's a very interesting environment. We are not talking about winning, but you win. We only talk about the process. And then winning is a byproduct of that process."

CARLI LLOYD, WHO WILL PARTICIPATE IN HER FOURTH OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT, UNDER COACH VLATKO ANDONOVSKI

Well, that and improve. Because despite back-to-back World Cup titles, No. 1 in the world rankings and a 44-game unbeaten streak, no one on the US roster rests on those accomplishments. If you talk to any player about championships and personal accolades, the conversation will quickly turn to how to improve.

“There is always something to improve on,” said goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who has kept her clean sheet in more than 60% of her 73 international appearances. "All of us have that mentality of constantly fine-tuning the little details of our game, and that's why we keep pushing forward and setting the bar higher and higher."

Forward Christen Press, who heads to Tokyo having contributed to 37 goals in her last 37 games, agrees.

"The beauty of soccer is that you can't perfect it," she said. “It forces you to strive for greatness and greatness is never achieved. So there is always something else to do.”

Even Lloyd, a two-time best player in the world and a four-time world and Olympic champion, tries harder as a 39-year-old veteran with 306 caps than a 23-year-old making her international debut.

“There is no secret. There is no short cut to the top,” she said. “It's just inching your way to the top day by day. I have literally always wanted to be the best player possible."

So while Andonovski can be a bit slippery on Olympic protocol and may need help navigating the IOC bureaucracy in Tokyo, that drive for knowledge and improvement is something he understands. That's why he started training at the lower levels of professional soccer, where he could teach without having to dedicate himself to taking care of egos. So he went to college to study business administration, but got a master's degree in coach education.

“What can I do to make the players better?” she says she wonders.

In 21 months with the most dominant soccer team on the planet, she's discovered the answer to that question is no different than the one she had when he coached the Missouri Comets indoors. It is not so much a question of talent as of desire.

"People don't realize or understand how much these players want to grow," she said. "Their hunger to improve and be the best version of themselves is really greater than that of players who are not in the national team or who are not as experienced or not as good."

“The difference is that these players have much less room for improvement, so they have to work 10 times more. But when that improvement occurs, it's very satisfying."

Andonovski said she will reflect on her journey later, perhaps when it has come to an end and she realizes it wasn't a dream. And when he does, he'll appreciate how the opportunity to work with a team he'd never heard of gave him a ticket out of a country reeling from civil war.

For now, all of that stays in the family.

“When I go on long walks with my wife, I like to talk about it,” Andonovski says of the leisurely walks he and his wife, Biljana, take through the Kansas City, Mo., neighborhood where they raised their three children. “How grateful I am and how honored I am to be part of such a dynasty and greatness. How blessed I am with a group of players who will be considered one of the greatest [teams] in the history of the game.”

And how he was given one of the most precious jewels in the sport and he managed to make it shine.

the olympic calendar

The women's Olympic soccer tournament is a 12-team competition that begins two days before the opening ceremony and ends two days before the closing ceremony. It will feature three of the top four finishers from 2016: runner-up Sweden; the bronze medalist, Canada, and Brazil, who finished fourth.

The rest of the group consists of Japan, the host country; along with Great Britain, Chile, China, Zambia, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, four times Olympic champion.

The teams were divided into three groups of four teams each, with the United States drawn in a quartet along with Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. The top two teams in each group, plus the two best third-placed teams, advance to the quarterfinals.

group game

July 21: USA vs. Sweden at Tokyo Stadium

July 24 – USA vs. New Zealand at Saitama Stadium

July 27 – USA vs. Australia at Kashima Stadium

knockout stage

Quarterfinals: July 30

Semifinals: August 2

Match for third place: August 5

Gold Medal Final: August 6

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