US women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski resigns after early World Cup exit, AP source says

NEW YORK: US women’s national team coach Vlatko Andonovski has resigned, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The move comes less than two weeks after the Americans were knocked out of the Women’s World Cup earlier than ever before.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the move had not been officially announced. An announcement was expected Thursday.

The four-time tournament champions struggled throughout the World Cup. A victory over Vietnam to kick off the group stage was followed by a pair of draws against Netherlands and Portugal — barely enough to get the team into the knockout stage,

The Americans played well in the Round of 16 against Sweden, but ultimately fell on penalties after a scoreless tie. The US scored just four goals over the course of the tournament.

The US had never finished worse than third at the World Cup.

The 46-year-old Andonovski was named coach of the US in October 2019, taking over for Jill Ellis, who led the US to back-to-back World Cup titles. He finished 51-5-9 during his time with the team, and was 3-2-5 in major tournaments.

Following the match against Sweden, Andonovski said he wasn’t thinking about his future with the team — only his young players. Fourteen players on the US roster were appearing in their first World Cup, and 12 of them had never played in a major tournament.

“We spent four years together. They got their first caps with me, they got their first national-team call-ups with me,” Andonovski said. “We spent tough times, good times. I don’t want to see them like that. That’s all I think about.”

It wasn’t just the World Cup that hurt Andonovski’s chances of keeping his job. The US also finished with a