Six things USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski must get right to avoid Women's World Cup failure

If the Netherlands draw proved anything, it's that Lavelle is irreplaceable. That game can be broken down into two segments: pre-Lavelle and post-Lavelle. Before she came into the game, the USWNT midfield was helpless, totally outplayed by their Dutch counterparts. After she came on, the U.S. found some level of control and, by the end, looked like the more likely team to score.

This, though, is where Andonovski has a decision to make. The coach claimed that Lavelle was deemed fit to play for just 45 minutes against the Dutch, and it remains to be seen if that changes pre-Portugal. The most important thing is, of course, to have Lavelle as close to 100 percent as possible for the knockouts because, from what we saw against the Dutch, the U.S. won't win this tournament without her.

Lavelle needs to be on the field against Portugal one way or another. Maybe that's another 45-minute run-out, maybe it's a 60-minute start or perhaps a true return to fitness with a 90-minute effort. Whatever it is, the U.S. needs to keep building her up for the bigger challenges ahead.

For years, Andonovski has been trying to find some sort of answer at the No.6 position. The USWNT were looking for a Julie Ertz replacement for so long that the program ended up looking towards... Julie Ertz. Fresh off giving birth and after an extended time out of the game, Ertz was brought back into the fold this spring, mostly because the U.S. hadn't figured out how to play without her.

And then the World Cup started. Ertz wasn't deployed in that No.6 spot, but rather at center-back, with Andi Sullivan - who has failed to convince this cycle - starting in defensive midfield. Against the Netherlands, it didn't look great, with Sullivan at least partially at fault for the goal.

So how does the U.S. fix it? Well, Andonovski could move Ertz into midfield and bring Alana Cook in at center-back, as everyone expected he would from the start. He could turn to the bench to, say Kristie Mewis, to see if she can offer something different. Or he could mess with the midfield altogether and appease some USWNT fans by finally putting Crystal Dunn in that spot next to Lindsey Horan, with Lavelle ahead.

There could also be some kind of tweak, like having Horan sit just a bit deeper with Sullivan or Ertz while Lavelle plays higher up, inverting the midfield triangle a bit like they did in the second half against the Netherlands.

Regardless, teams have all seen the USWNT's weakness is their midfield, and some of the more technical teams in this tournament will be able to dominate in that area. The question is how the U.S. intends to counteract that, with Andonovski needing to figure out something that will allow his midfield to survive against the world's best.

There probably isn't a team in this tournament with as much depth as the USWNT. Even without the likes of Mallory Swanson, Becky Sauerbrunn, Catarino Macario, Sam Mewis and Tobin Heath, this team still has so much talent.

And yet, it doesn't appear that Andonovski actually trusts it. If he did, he would have turned to some of his other players against the Netherlands.

He didn't in the name of continuity, he said, as his side looked more likely to score toward the end. Fair enough, but wouldn't they have been even more likely with fresh legs? He had Megan Rapinoe, Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams and Ashley Sanchez all just sitting there - any one of them could have come on and changed that game.

Andonovski has to trust his players... all of them. He's already started the same XI twice and, given the age of some of those involved, there's a real concern that players could be burnt out by the end of this tournament. And, even if they aren't, it never hurts to use substitutes to add new wrinkles and new ideas to a game that needs opening up.

The Netherlands game was dying for that, for one player to come in and add just that little something different. Andonovski didn't see it that way, but the U.S. may not be so lucky in the latter stages if he doesn't trust his players to come into games and make a real impact.

For years, the U.S. attack has been one that plays as less than the sum of its parts. Throughout his tenure, Andonovski just hasn't quite found a way to get a group of world-class stars on the same page. Injuries have certainly hurt, but that doesn't matter now, does it?

The U.S. attack just hasn't looked right through two games, failing to pass both the eye test or the statistical one. Just watching, the front three of Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman so rarely moved together with purpose., which is something legendary striker Carli Lloyd has pointed out on FOX.

“I don’t think you saw that fluidity with the U.S. in the first game,” Lloyd said. “Why would you? That line-up had never played together. The first goal Sophia Smith scored was really the only moment where you saw three players — Lindsey Horan, Alex Morgan and Soph — have that movement off of one another where it was synchronized.

“Everything else was just these Hail Mary balls that were being lumped into the box. Those aren’t effective often.”

Statistically, it hasn't been great either. Rodman completed fewer than 50% of her passes against the Netherlands, routinely turning the ball over in important areas of the field. U.S. attacks were routinely halted by bad giveaways, making life a bit easier for the Dutch.

Figuring this out now is easier said than done. The good news is that the trio of Morgan, Rodman and Smith all do so many things well that they can, at times, simply overwhelm teams individually. Rodman's pace, Smith's smoothness in front of goal and Morgan's veteran guile... all valuable assets that should produce goals.

That trio will likely be the one leading the U.S. into the knockouts, and getting them on the same page will be key to any deep run.

It's no secret: the USWNT wants to win this group. And it isn't just to appease fans or prevent some kind of World Cup history. No, winning the group will really, really matter here.

The U.S. will advance with a win or draw against Portugal, while a loss would almost certainly lead to a catastrophic group-stage exit. That's the doomsday scenario, of course, but the road ahead doesn't look very promising for the team that finishes second in this group.

The runner-up of this group will almost certainly face Sweden, another powerhouse, before then looking to book a potential date against Spain or Japan. That's an unforgiving road to the semis, to say the least.

Winning the group, meanwhile, would see the U.S. take on the runners-up in Group G (likely Italy, South Africa or Argentina) before facing the winner of Group A (Switzerland, New Zealand or Norway), or one of that Spain/Japan duo. It's all a bit more forgiving.

The USWNT has never been knocked out in the group stage, so should the worst happen, it would be historic. They've also won the group on all but one occasion, with 2011 being the only time they didn't finish on top.

Finishing ahead of the Netherlands would certainly get people away from the panic button, and it would also set the U.S. up for a more favorable knockout run.

At the end of the day, only so much of a World Cup comes down to tactics. Sometimes, games come down to moments defined by confidence, chemistry and attitude. It's something the USWNT has benefitted from more than most.

It may be a little bit simple, sure, but it is worth noting. This USWNT group's strength has always been its unity. For the last 30-40 years, the U.S. team has been built on togetherness and mentality. As the legendary Michelle Akers put it to GOAL before the World Cup, it's about the "ever-present hunger to kick ass".

The USWNT hasn't quite shown that hunger yet. They lacked that ruthlessness against a clearly-overmatched Vietnam team and it took Danielle van de Donk's tackle on Lindsey Horan to really draw it out of them against the Netherlands.

Hopefully, it's here to stay. The USWNT's heads dropped a bit after conceding, but early in the second half, you saw a team ready to fight. Maybe this was the wake-up call they needed.

Either way, Andonovski must now make sure heads don't drop and that the pressure doesn't pile up on this team. It's all still there for the taking, and the U.S. can certainly take it all if the above is taken care of.