United States women’s national team manager Vlatko Andonovski said forward Mallory Swanson is “doing better” than he thought emotionally in the wake of her torn patellar tendon, an injury that is almost certain to keep Swanson out of this summer’s World Cup.
Swanson was injured in the 40th minute of Saturday’s 2-0 win over Ireland after sustaining a challenge from defender Aoife Mannion. Swanson was stretchered off the field, and taken to a local hospital in Austin, Texas, where she received her diagnosis.
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She has since returned to Chicago, but Andonovski said Swanson had yet to undergo surgery. A U.S. Soccer spokesperson didn’t provide further details as to the severity of the injury.
“Honestly, she’s doing better than I thought,” Andonovski told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s second encounter with Ireland in St. Louis. “She’s stronger than me, let’s put it that way.”
Andonovski added that he had since spoken with Swanson and marveled at her positive attitude.
“Even before we knew what the injury is, when she was walking out, she had this big smile on her face and said, ‘Coach, I’m fine. I’ll be good,'” he said. “When I talked to her after that she was really good and she was very thankful for all the support that she got from the staff, from players, and outside of the environment. She said that all she wants is for the team to be successful, and that she’s gonna be our biggest supporter, so very, very good mindset, very good mentality.”
Andonovski said that Swanson’s upbeat attitude has been a constant inside the U.S. camp, and will be missed. But he also stressed that the team needs to move forward.
“It’s not easy, but that’s who she is,” he said about Swanson. “She’s not like that in one place and different in another other place. That’s how she’s in the environment. That’s how she is in trainings, in tough moments. That’s how she is when she’s happy. That rubs off on the rest of the team. So everybody loves her in the environment. But at same time, we all understand that we have a job to do, [get] past this now, and we’ve got to prepare for the World Cup. We’ve got to do our job.”
Trinity Rodman, Lynn Williams, Megan Rapinoe and 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson are all in contention to fill in for Swanson, who had scored seven goals in her last five international games prior to Saturday’s match. Rapinoe is not in camp due to a lower leg injury. Andonovski said that Thompson, initially left off the roster, was already packing her bags at half time of Saturday’s match, and that she’ll see the field at some point on Tuesday.
“[Thompson] is an exciting player,” Andonovski said. “She has abilities to turn in small areas that not many players have. And it’s not just the turn, but she accelerates with the ball and runs at defenses with confidence. I almost want to say sometimes, for an 18 year old, it’s borderline arrogant when she goes at you.”
Andonovski added that midfielder Rose Lavelle will not feature in Tuesday’s game due to a “little knock” and was keeping her out as a precaution.
“This is not a moment for us to take any chances,” Andonovski said, “Even though Rose was not happy with the decision because she felt like she could play, we think that it’s a good opportunity for us to see other players and at the same time be very, very safe.”
U.S. defender Becky Sauerbrunn will be honored before Tuesday’s match for playing in her 200th international match. Andonovski noted he had worked with Sauerbrunn professionally for 10 years, both at club and international level, and values what she has brought to her teams.
“From day one, we could see the type of person [Sauerbrunn] is, the type of leader she is, and on top of that, an amazing player,” Andonovski said. “So it’s been an extremely great experience for me personally and honored to be able to work with her and have at least a small impact on her career.”