Lindsey Horan: USWNT Players Not Set Up for Success by Vlatko Andonovski's Tactics

USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski stepped down last week after the Americans failed to advance past the round of 16 in the Women's World Cup, a hugely disappointing result for a country that had won the previous two iterations of the tournament and four in total.

On Tuesday, captain Lindsey Horan hinted that Andonovski's tactics were an issue during an appearance on The RE-CAP Show with Tobin Heath and Christen Press, to the point that the players took it upon themselves to make their own adjustments against Sweden (52:20, h/t Seth Vertelney of Pro Soccer Wire).

"The game against Sweden, I don't think we were necessarily set up to play the way that we played," she said. "That was just us finally coming together and being like, 'This is what we're going to do.' And then it worked and then it's like, 'OK, keep doing it.' Could that have happened earlier? Maybe. It's a really tough one."

Horan also questioned whether both she and the USWNT did the most it could to maximize and support young players like Sophia Smith, saying she didn't believe they "got the absolute best out of some of them because of the way that we were set up, and some of the things that we did in the game."

"I [have been] killing myself for the last two weeks. Like what the heck could I have done to help or to push our playing style or to push this bravery?" she added. "And at the end of the day, it's like you're set up in a structure to do this. And here's your opportunity individually, like just go play within the structure."

There's little doubt that something was off with this version of the USWNT. Just one win and four goals in four games was more than a little shocking.

Some of that may have come down to a number of veteran players not making the trip to New Zealand like Carli Lloyd (retired), Heath ("physical and mental reasons," per The Athletic's Meg Linehan) and Press (injured).

But this USWNT side was still loaded with talent. That led to many questioning Andonovski's tactics, his substitution patterns and his overall selection decisions. It wasn't a huge surprise when it was announced he was stepping away from the position.

""It's been the honor of my life to coach the talented, hard-working players of the USWNT for the past four years," Andonovski said in a statement after stepping down. "I'm very optimistic for the future of this program, especially considering all the young players that got opportunities over the past few years who will no doubt be leaders and impact players moving forward."

The question that that is impossible to ignore for both the USWNT and its fans is what those players might have accomplished with a different manager in New Zealand.