ORLANDO, Fla. _ In the minutes following his team's dominant 2-0 win over England, new U.S. women's national team coach Vlatko Andonovski noted one thing he wanted to focus on improving.
"Everything," he said. "That's the coach in me. I'm so happy for the win. We're happy about it. But we know when we go into game review tomorrow, the players don't want to hear how good we did. (It's) what can we get better at."
Andonovski wasn't alone in this feeling. In the locker room following the victory _ which marked the first of three games in the next week as the team participates in the SheBelieves Cup _ the U.S. players weren't focused on the positives.
They weren't praising forward Christen Press for her opening goal in the 53rd minute, a strike that curled into the top right corner from 25 yards out after the forward pulled the ball back to dodge around a defender.
The team didn't want to talk about Carli Lloyd's clinical finish three minutes later, either, or Lindsey Horan's scooping cross to set her up. For the Americans, the focus was placed solely on improvements _ how to finish shots, improve runs and tighten the team's game for the next opponent.
This mentality of constant improvement is a staple of the U.S. national team, and it's one of the reasons players feel Andonovski is a strong fit for his new role as coach.
"He's challenged us in a different way in the way we're playing and the things we're trying to do," Horan said. "I think we pride ourselves in what we put in work in training, and we keep our standards high. That's what's special about this team."
The first half was the area with the most room for improvement for the U.S. The English side was short-handed for the match without rightback Lucy Bronze after the star suffered a calf injury, forcing her to miss her first international match in five years.
However, English keeper Carly Telford kept her side alive in the first half, fending off four shots to keep the Americans scoreless heading into the locker room.
Two of those shots were particularly challenging, offering dangerous chances for the U.S. to take the lead. The first came in the 14th minute, when Rose Lavelle pulled up from long range to fire a scorching shot that forced Telford to stretch out fully midair to bat away the ball.
The second came 20 minutes later when forward Tobin Heath arced a curling ball through the box. Forward Carli Lloyd let the ball skip past her, leaving it wide open for Press to run through the shot, but Telford scrambled back to make the close-range save.
After that stalwart stand, however, the U.S. entered the second half with an edge. The Americans created several more chances in the moments leading up to Press' goal, and Andonovski noted the growing roar of the crowd of 16,531 only built the Americans' momentum.
Once Press sent her shot sailing into the net, it felt as if a dam broke.
"They punish you," Telford said. "You make one mistake bam, goal. The quality they have, it was relentless. It's constant. Constant. Relentless."
Although the Americans' trademark relentlessness was on display in the 2-0 victory, the team noted several other chances to score that were left on the field. In her 100th cap, midfielder Julie Ertz seemed to net a third goal in the 79th minute, only to have it called back for offside.
Moments after the game, the Americans were already studying these small missteps in preparation for their upcoming match against Spain at Red Bull Arena on Sunday. Spain beat Japan 3-1 during the opening match of the tournament Thursday in Orlando.
Lloyd noted that the SheBelieves tournament is particularly important as it serves as the last chance for the U.S. to compete in the same tournament format as the Olympics. Both competitions offer only two-day breaks _ half of which are composed of cross-country travel _ separating each game against a highly-ranked competitor.
The team embraces this period, Lloyd said, as it continues to prod at any slight weaknesses that can be improved before the Olympics arrive this summer.
"Our next goal is to be better than this performance," Lloyd said. "As long as we do that and focus on what we need to do, there's no stopping this team."
