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B u c s B l o g 
L a d y . P i r a t e . S o c c e r
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Heinrichs resigns from US Women's team
April Heinrichs' resignation this week is, in my humble opinion, a good move for US women's soccer. Heinrich's took over following the 1999 Women's World Cup victory - then-coach Tony Dicicco departed under unusual terms - it seemed US Soccer had never really been keen on him, despite his clear success. As part of the release detailing Heinrichs' time at the helm, US Soccer apparently considers her silver medal and bronze medal efforts in the 2000 Olympics and 2003 World Cup to be accomplishments, rather than seriously underperforming expectations.
In five years at the helm of the U.S. Women’s National Team, Heinrichs compiled an impressive 87-17-20 record, a .782 winning percentage and triumphantly led the United States to the 2004 Olympic gold medal in Greece. She was also the head coach for the USA’s third-place finish at the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 and the team’s silver medal performance in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. With a record 124 games at the helm of the U.S. WNT, Heinrichs was also the first coach to guide the team to an Algarve Cup championship, winning the annual tournament in Portugal three times.
Under Dicicco, the US women built on the foundation established under Anson Dorrance and parlayed the attacking prowess, team speed, skill, depth, and vastly superior goalkeeping, into a fearsome 3-4-3. The US had, and still does have devestatingly effective forwards, skillful and dominating midfielders, and very effective defenders... by using a three attacker system, and dominating the middle of the field, the US could create an onslaught of shots, and be expected to win games having scored 5 or 6 times.
Under Heinrichs, this philosophy nearly died. Setting up in a more conservative, traditional 4-4-2, Heinrichs pulled one of the fearsome forwards off the pitch, (or occasionally held them back as an "attacking mid." Going to a four-back, Heinrichs seemed to want to win by denying the opponent scoring, rather than doing any of it ourselves. The problem is a 1-0 game is vulnerable to a single breakdown... a 5-2 game is not. And having a syste that was seemingly not designed to create overwhelming pressure on goal,heaven help a US team that fell behind - they were then 'adjusting' to overcome the defecit, rather than continuing to relentlessly pound. The semifinal loss to Germany in 2003 was just such an occasion. When the entire attack seems based upon carrying foraward and feeding Wambach, how could Germany fail to shut it down?
I don't know who the US will replace Heinrichs with. I hope it is someone who values a dynamic approach to attacking play - utilizing the talent we are loaded with and dispensing with the cautious defensive mindset we've seen over the recent seasons. The most astonishing aspect of Heinrichs' shortcomings - she herself was a dynamic, goal-scoring forward. Why did she not coach with the same attacking ferver she played with?
In five years at the helm of the U.S. Women’s National Team, Heinrichs compiled an impressive 87-17-20 record, a .782 winning percentage and triumphantly led the United States to the 2004 Olympic gold medal in Greece. She was also the head coach for the USA’s third-place finish at the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 and the team’s silver medal performance in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. With a record 124 games at the helm of the U.S. WNT, Heinrichs was also the first coach to guide the team to an Algarve Cup championship, winning the annual tournament in Portugal three times.Under Dicicco, the US women built on the foundation established under Anson Dorrance and parlayed the attacking prowess, team speed, skill, depth, and vastly superior goalkeeping, into a fearsome 3-4-3. The US had, and still does have devestatingly effective forwards, skillful and dominating midfielders, and very effective defenders... by using a three attacker system, and dominating the middle of the field, the US could create an onslaught of shots, and be expected to win games having scored 5 or 6 times.
Under Heinrichs, this philosophy nearly died. Setting up in a more conservative, traditional 4-4-2, Heinrichs pulled one of the fearsome forwards off the pitch, (or occasionally held them back as an "attacking mid." Going to a four-back, Heinrichs seemed to want to win by denying the opponent scoring, rather than doing any of it ourselves. The problem is a 1-0 game is vulnerable to a single breakdown... a 5-2 game is not. And having a syste that was seemingly not designed to create overwhelming pressure on goal,heaven help a US team that fell behind - they were then 'adjusting' to overcome the defecit, rather than continuing to relentlessly pound. The semifinal loss to Germany in 2003 was just such an occasion. When the entire attack seems based upon carrying foraward and feeding Wambach, how could Germany fail to shut it down?
I don't know who the US will replace Heinrichs with. I hope it is someone who values a dynamic approach to attacking play - utilizing the talent we are loaded with and dispensing with the cautious defensive mindset we've seen over the recent seasons. The most astonishing aspect of Heinrichs' shortcomings - she herself was a dynamic, goal-scoring forward. Why did she not coach with the same attacking ferver she played with?
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