The two-time defending FIFA Women’s World Cup champions will be in search of a new head coach.
U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday that U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Jill Ellis is stepping down following the end of a five-game Victory Tour which will conclude this Fall.
For everything she has done and everything she has meant to this program we say, THANK YOU ❤️
Jill Ellis will step down as #USWNT head coach in October.#ThankYouJill: https://t.co/5I3dwtQXIo pic.twitter.com/QkCAkMItQj
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) July 30, 2019
Ellis. 52, has led the USWNT to back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019. The USWNT defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in this year’s Final earlier in July. Her current contract expires on Wednesday and although there was a mutual option to run through the 2020 Olympics, Ellis made her decision to step down.
The new general manager, which has yet to be filled, will be in charge of hiring the new head coach.
Ellis holds the USWNT record for most games coached with 127 and is second for most wins with 102.
The USWNT will face the Republic of Ireland this Saturday in the first match of its Victory Tour. They also have friendlies lined up against Portugal in Philadelphia on Aug. 29th and Minnesota on Sept. 3rd.
Tiny puddle is still very accurate. While parts of Western Europe are beginning to embrace women’s club football and development, that is still very much in its infancy.
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Furthermore, there’s only a handful of countries on Earth who see the Women’s World Cup as a big deal. The Dutch loss was met with indifference at home. The Guardian did a poll where it asked if people were more likely to follow women’s football after the World Cup. The consensus was very much in line with what you get following the Olympics. “it’s fun to follow every four years, but I’ll stick with following the men’s game.”
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Currently, women’s soccer is still only a major money-maker and priority for one entity. They’re headquearted in Chicago if you wanna look them up.
did you hear the US women actually make more than the US men? that must be a pretty big puddle…or it’s not. Which is it man?
and the point remains, Europe was primed for an early US knockout and announcement to the world that they were now the epicenter for women’s soccer. They believed it, and had it all set to deliver. And didn’t. Ellis gets a ton of credit
Overall record as USWNT coach: 102-7-18
Record in two world cups: 13-0-1
Goals scored/goals allowed in two world cups: 40/6
Regina Berhalter? Make it happen US Soccer!
It was either now, or after the Olympics next year. Hard to top a 2nd WC win.
Coach Ellis, Maybe you should come take over the USMNT….we need a “winning mentality” on the team….
*rubs temples*
Easy to have a “winning mentality” when you’re still very much the biggest fish in a tiny puddle as opposed to just another fish in a massive sea.
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Never the biggest fan of Ellis’, but you can’t say she didn’t by hook or by crook, manage to get it right most of the time when it mattered.
tiny puddle is not accurate. France, and Europe, have clubs investing big on women’s soccer now, and fully expected to knock the Americans out and announce it’s new reign. With France at home in a European hosted World Cup, and then the onslaught of 7 European teams lined up with the uswnt in the quarters, it was all set up. Instead, over the course of the Word Cup preparation cycle, Ellis fundamentally changed the uswnt’s tactical awareness, abilities and versatility to execute on the biggest stage. And they turned out to be critical advancements to evolve the team. She did not let the US stand still, and that took guts. I too questioned some of the ideas re. player call ups and tactics during the team build up cycle, but she proved to be absolutely SPOT ON. Her tactical game plan against Neville’s English team was brilliant (that English team is good) and then she showed the other side by tactically responding to Wiegman’s tactics in the final (Wiegman, I like her!), adjusting instead of sledge hammering away with a lone idea of how to play. The USWNT may get passed by, or not, by what the euros are doing, and the gaps may close, but at least under her watch the team didn’t sit still. It evolved. So while others advanced, so did her team. And that didn’t mean forfeiting the mental edge of “winning mentality” the USWNT has earned. JK essentially forfeited the men’s edition of “winning mentality”–it’s competitive belief and grit–into a split locker room, and we’ve been looking for it ever since.
I agree with beachbum wholeheartedly here. Jill Ellis made ALL the right moves during the W/C and in matches like with France, where we were statistically outnumbered, and without Megan R., we defied the odds and came out with a win, which in retrospect was the match which really decided the World Cup. I think that Jill is Smart in going out on top, although I may have stuck around for the Olympics in order to get a little revenge, seeing that both France and Germany will NOT be there.