How many minutes can Rose Lavelle play? USA still building up its game-changer
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Vlatko Andonovski played somewhat of a harmless trick. The day before the United States faced the Netherlands, the USWNT coach brought Rose Lavelle to the pre-match news conference with him.
Oftentimes when a player comes with the head coach to an event such as this to preview a match, assumptions are (perhaps wrongly) made. In this case, media members thought Andonovski was sending a message Lavelle would start against the Dutch.
The central midfielder is a well-known game-changer and spark for the U.S. women's national team. But her World Cup has gotten off to a slower start because she has been recovering from a knee injury sustained in early April.
Lavelle had not played a single match — for club or country — in the lead-up to the World Cup. She played the final 30 minutes in the USWNT's 3-0 win over Vietnam, though, and said she felt "good" afterward.
Turns out, Lavelle did not start the 1-1 draw with the Netherlands. Instead, Andonovski rolled with the same 11 players he started in Game 1. This meant Savannah DeMelo, who now has a total of three caps for the USWNT, got the nod over Lavelle.
After Jill Roord scored for the Netherlands in the 17th minute to give her side a 1-0 edge, the U.S. failed to regain its composure and control of the midfield for the rest of the first half.
"We allowed them to take control of the tempo and slow down the tempo a lot more than we wanted," Andonovski said.
So, after the break, Lavelle came on for DeMelo. While she didn't have a ton of opportunities, she did have the superb corner kick that resulted in U.S. co-captain Lindsey Horan's equalizing goal.
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After the match, Andonovski clarified what, exactly, is going on with Lavelle's playing time.
"If we started her in the first half, we were probably going to have to take her out at halftime because her minutes limitation was around 45 minutes," he said. "This way, we actually got a few extra minutes at the end of the game.
"I thought she did well. I don't think she had a lot of opportunities to expose her qualities, but the moment she [went in] we could see what she's capable of. Just controlling the ball, penetrating on the dribble and finding players."
Andonovski was pressed on whether Lavelle's minutes would continue to be gradually ramped up — she played 30 in the opening match and 45 in the second. Would she play 60 or more in the USWNT's next ultra-important group game against Portugal on Tuesday? (Coverage begins at 1 a.m. ET, with kickoff at 3 a.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app.)
Andonovski said he would have to check with the medical team.
"It could be 90 minutes," Andonovski said with a little smile.
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Lavelle was the only substitute the USWNT made against the Netherlands, which has caused some commotion outside the team given the amount of depth and brimming talent Andonovski has at his disposal. Managers are allowed five subs in a World Cup match, and aside from Lavelle, Andonovski elected to stick with who he had on the pitch.
Lynn Williams is in form, and before leaving for New Zealand, she went on a scoring tear for NWSL club Gotham FC with nine goals. The 30-year-old forward is playing in her first World Cup, but she’s fast, physical and was widely projected to see the field against the Netherlands.
And when the USWNT couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net for 60 minutes, the thought was Andonovski would make adjustments that included Williams. Or maybe even someone like Megan Rapinoe, who is one of the best in the world when it comes to service from the flank and set pieces. Rapinoe’s minutes are also being closely managed as she returns from a minor pre-tournament injury.
"Of course, we thought about substitutes, and Lynn was probably one of the first that would have been on the field if we needed to change something," Andonovski said. "But I thought we had control of the game, and I thought we were knocking on the door of scoring a goal. Our players played well, we were around the goal the whole time, and I just didn’t want to disrupt the rhythm at that point."
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Andonovski said he thought his three forwards Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman "were very good today. Dangerous, created opportunities and were a handful."
Morgan had a goal that would have put the USWNT up 2-1 had she not been called offside. Smith was unhappy with her performance in the first half, so she changed her hair at halftime from a braid to a bun to see if that would do the trick. Rodman used her speed up and down the wing and created the scoring opportunity for Morgan, but her first touch was off and led to turnovers.
Afterward, Andonovski was asked if he thought Rodman was outplayed.
"I don’t think she was overmatched," he said. "She was getting defended physical and tough, and I actually thought she was really good and put herself in really good situations and put her teammates in good situations to score goals. She executed her role very well."
While that might be the thought inside the squad, the reality is this team is going to need to utilize its depth and score more goals to win the group — and another title. Several players have now played consecutive 90-minute matches, which is not sustainable in a World Cup, especially in the knockout rounds.
Now, the USWNT and Netherlands are tied at the top of Group E, though the Americans currently have the goal-differential advantage.
To take any anxiety out of the equation, Andonovski's team needs to leave no doubt and find the back of the net early and often. Even if he doesn't want to admit that publicly.
"Going into the next game, the first thing that we're looking into is winning that game, and we'll go from there," Andonovski said.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.
