Fansided

Jill Ellis, USWNT are approaching 2019 World Cup on the attack

By Jasmyn Wimbish

Jill Ellis of USA during the friendly match between Spain and USA at Rico Perez Stadium in Alicante, Spain on January 22 2019. (Photo by Jose Breton/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jill Ellis of USA during the friendly match between Spain and USA at Rico Perez Stadium in Alicante, Spain on January 22 2019. (Photo by Jose Breton/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

When you’re as dominant as the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, it’s hard not to be measured by past success.

The United States might walk into France as the defending Women’s World Cup champions, but for Jill Ellis’ squad, defending anything is the furthest thing from their mind.

After winning their first World Cup title since 1999 in 2015, the USWNT has always been the team to beat when it comes to women’s soccer. But that 2015 team that dominated the entire tournament is far from the one competing this summer.

Familiar faces like Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe are scattered throughout the roster, but for the most part the team that will be competing at the 2019 World Cup in France features a lot of new names.

“This is not the same team from 2015, we’re four years moved on,” Ellis told FanSided’s Ashley Young. “What we’ve talked about is we’re not defending a championship, we’re going out to attack one. It’s about this group winning their first championship, as opposed to defending something that was in the past.”

As nice as it is to dwell on all the success this team has had in the past, it’s a great mentality to have going into the World Cup. Fans might clamor onto the idea of defending the title, but establishing an identity for this team and not carrying around the weight of years past is important.

Ellis also talked about the SheBelieves Summit, which she’ll be talking at on March 9th and was founded by the USWNT as a way to allow young girls to hear from women leaders from all avenues of life, not just athletes.

What started as a tournament, which the USWNT is competing in right now, expanded into a full-on summit to reach as many young girls as possible.

“When I was younger and even when I was getting into coaching there was never this chance to see people live out potentially what you want to do,” Ellis said. “I think that’s so important, and it doesn’t matter if it’s becoming a teacher, doctor a coach or soccer player it’s so important for our young people today.”

Home/Soccer