\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been almost a year, but Trinity Rodman<\/strong> still can barely bring herself to say it out loud.<\/p>\n \u201cLosing at the World Cup,\u201d she says. \u201cI hate saying that word.\u201d<\/p>\n For the United States women\u2019s national team, the L-word has always been something of taboo, if not a foreign concept entirely. A juggernaut in the order of Brazil on the men\u2019s side, the USWNT has been a serial winner, dominating women\u2019s soccer like few teams in any sport. The US has won gold at the Olympics four out of seven times, and in nine women\u2019s World Cup tournaments, the team has claimed the top prize in four of them. The previous decade produced a truly storied run, with the likes of Megan Rapinoe<\/strong> and Alex Morgan<\/strong> leading the USWNT to Olympic gold in 2012 and consecutive World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019.<\/p>\n But last year\u2019s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand marked a humbling end to that dynastic era. Under head coach Vlatko Andonovski,<\/strong> the team was an awkward mix of familiar mainstays and World Cup rookies like Rodman, lacking the venom in attack that American fans have come to expect. \u201cGoing into the World Cup, it was chaotic and there was a lot of adjustment,\u201d Rodman adds. \u201cI feel like it was kind of hard to know where you stood.\u201d<\/p>\n In four matches at the tournament, the USWNT mustered only four goals\u2013\u2013three of them coming against lowly Vietnam\u2013\u2013before crashing out in the round of 16 against Sweden. It was the worst finish ever at a World Cup for the US, which had previously never finished lower than third at the competition. \u201cHaving a coach that\u2019s experiencing the World Cup for the first time, with half the team that\u2019s experiencing it for the first time,\u201d she adds, \u201cI think there was a lot of uncertainty and unknown factors.\u201d<\/p>\n Andonovski resigned shortly after the World Cup and has since been replaced by the English coach Emma Hayes,<\/strong> who officially took the reins of the USWNT last month after a decorated 12-year run with Chelsea FC of the Women\u2019s Super League. \u201cThe way she connects with players is so good,\u201d Rodman says of Hayes. \u201cThe honesty and upfront meetings that she has with people, I think, helps a lot with people\u2019s confidence and the way that they go into games.\u201d<\/p>\n The changes have extended from the touchline to the pitch, with Rapinoe and other longtime USWNT anchors such as Julie Ertz<\/strong> and Kelley O\u2019Hara<\/strong> announcing their retirement over the past year.<\/p>\n