Ahead of Friday night’s friendly against England and just four months before the World Cup finals, America’s recent run of poor results and their loss of top spot in the world rankings might concern some – but not head coach Jill Ellis.
By Tony Leighton
“I’ve never in my life paid any attention to rankings,” insisted Ellis, whose team have been overtaken by Germany after seven years at the summit of Fifa’s rankings and who have lost two and won just one of their last five games.
“The rankings are not something I discuss or dwell on,” added Ellis, born in England but a long-time member of the American set-up. “If I’m playing a number 10 team or a number two team I approach it in the same way.”
Last Sunday the now second-ranked Americans lost 2-0 to France, who lie third in the rankings, and are set to face an England team that have climbed five places to sixth in the world since Mark Sampson became head coach 14 months ago.
Ellis and her players have had to face criticism following the defeat to France, but the coach said: “We created a lot of good opportunities in that game and I believe we are a team that’s getting back to form.
“We’re not close to our capacity, but we’ll get there and the most important thing about the friendlies we’re playing at the moment is getting us prepared for the World Cup – everything we’re doing is an investment in that tournament.
“That’s why we’ve purposely gone out to play good teams away from home and challenge ourselves. I went into the France game looking for answers and I got some against a very good side, and it will be the same against England.
“They have added depth to their team, and although losing (the retired) Kelly Smith is a blow they’ve picked up some younger players who have done very well. They will be a quality opponent, and that’s why we came to play them.”
Image: tgsphoto.co.uk
If England are a “quality opponent” then America, despite their recent woes, will certainly provide top class opposition that may match the German team which comprehensively beat Sampson’s side 3-0 at Wembley last November.
Looking ahead to the game, the England coach said: “It could be a good time to face the USA after their last few games, but they are incredibly competitive and after having their pride dented they’ll be looking to turn their form round.
“We’ve got to be up for the challenge, and we’ll certainly need to perform better than we did against Germany – we have to handle the pressure better and produce a performance that can give us a result.”
Like Ellis, Sampson is treating his team’s current run of games most crucially as preparation for this summer’s World Cup finals in Canada. “We have to focus on what we need to do to be competitive at the tournament,” he said.
“We’ve been working in training on what we need to adjust from our performance against Germany to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the USA game or other games we’ve got coming up ahead of Canada.
“In World Cup year there are no easy build-up matches, but every one of them counts and the players are going to have pressure to produce good performances – and that’s a pressure they have to accept and embrace.”
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