Well it wasn’t supposed to start like this.

Jillian Ellis’ U20 Women’s National Team has a ton of talent on the roster, even if it is missing a few players with injury. The squad has looked good in various camps over the past several months and in all honesty,  I took for granted that this team would advance to the knockout rounds.

I’m starting to wonder after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Ghana if the team was thinking along the same lines.

I’m not picking on the gang here. I’m rather sure I am agreeing with them totally. The fact is that team is better than this and if for nobody else but themselves, they should really step up their performance in the next match. The first half in particular was poor from the U.S., they almost looked uninterested for part of it.

Now the format of the event has 2 of 4 teams from each group reaching the quarterfinal. Good results Saturday vs. Switzerland and next Wednesday vs. South Korea, so there’s plenty of time for the squad to right its opening-day wrong, but the team has to play better, especially in the opening part of the game.

It’s true the team had some near misses to score a winner late in the game, but so did Ghana, and the U.S. goal looked suspiciously offside.

So it’s up to this team. The players have the talent to take care of things. We won’t need to hear about the heat or injuries or anything like that after the game, just how the team rose to the occasion and played to its potential. That’s all it has to do.