Vlatko Andonovski hails Ashley Sanchez & Trinity Rodman for 'ruthless' USWNT performance | OneFootball

US women’s national team head coach Vlatko Andonovski hailed young figures Ashley Sanchez and Trinity Rodman for their contributions in the SheBelieves Cup performance against Canada, adding the two must be 'ruthless' moving forward to succeed.

The USWNT kicked off the 2023 competition with a 2-0 triumph over Canada, as two goals from Mallory Swanson in the first half sealed the victory. Andonovski experimented with the lineup, bumping up Rodman and Sanchez given the injury-laden roster.

But the two figures maximized their opportunity, leaving a much-needed lasting impression on the head coach as the 2023 Women’s World Cup approaches.

“Obviously very happy with Trinity’s performance. She’s a tremendous finisher. She’s shown that in different ways. She needs to develop ruthlessness. We could have easily scored another two or three goals, or created enough opportunities to score two or three goals. But again, happy with everything that we got. We’ll use those moments as learning opportunities so we can show Trin how she can be even better,” Andonovski said of the 20-year-old forward before speaking on Sanchez.

“She [Sanchez] has special qualities on the ball. It’s not easy to synchronize her movements right away because she hasn’t played much with Alex [Morgan] but when they do it, I think it worked very well. We are very happy where she’s at, positionally and happy where she’s at in the time of her stage of development.”

But defensively, Andonovski added Sanchez has room to grow.

“She puts much work in and effort but her timing and angle is just a little bit off. And it’s not quite synchronized with Alex’s movement when we want to shift from mid blocking to high press,” he said. “But she’s a true student of the game. I have no doubt that she’s going to get better.”

The head coach maintained that matches against top-tier teams like Canada will inspire Sanchez to improve as they expose her current weaknesses.

“Games like this are going to help her get better, because if we do again try certain things with her against a team that is not going to expose us, we’re probably not going to see everything that we want to see,” he continued.

“Now, every little thing, if you’re not in the proper spot, if you’re one step to the left or one step to the right, you’re gonna get exposed and that’s where you learn.”

The USWNT continue their SheBelieves Cup campaign against Japan on Sunday, before concluding vs. Brazil on Wednesday, February 22.