![]() Previously an assistant under Pia Sundhage, Ellis saw the way the team galvanized the public during the 2011 World Cup. Ellis was not unfamiliar with that when she was hired to replace Tom Sermanni in 2014. The national team has operated in a different space than almost any other women's sports team for at least 20 years. So it was only right that she got a real game at the end. For me personally, in the moment, I wasn't thinking about anything else but trying to win. I think the fans got a pretty thrilling last 20 minutes of that game, in terms of the excitement level. I always say to the players we want to play well. "It just kind of epitomized what this team is about, pushing on the edge, trying to make it happen, fighting to the end. "It was fun-filled, exciting, on the edge of your seat, frustrating," Ellis said, joking that she wished VAR had been in place for Lloyd's goal. Lloyd had her celebration cut short when the assistant referee raised her flag for offside on an apparent go-ahead goal. Mallory Pugh missed an opportunity on a Christen Press cross. Jessica McDonald hit the post with a header off a corner in the final 10 minutes. threw itself at South Korea in search of a goal. She looked far more at home standing on the touch line in the final 30 minutes as the U.S. Ellis looked awkward during the pregame ceremony, not used to being the center of attention on or off the field with this team. "Jill's just kind of put her head down every single day and gone about what she's focused on and been really successful."Īlthough the result in her final game was a disappointment, much like the loss in Abby Wambach's farewell game four years ago, the scene couldn't have been truer to the plot of the past five years. On two different levels, her and our team, we're somewhat fighting for the same things. "Off the field, she is obviously continuing to fight for equality as well in some regards. "You talk about a record standpoint, she has broken barriers with that," Carli Lloyd said. coach with her final win last week and counts two World Cup titles among her 106-7-19 overall record. There are things out there this team can relate to."Įllis passed the late Tony DiCicco for the most wins by a U.S. And now you have this high-profile female team. The whole Time's Up movement made people way more aware of what people had to deal with. "The culture and the climate now, I don't want to say is focused on female issues, but it's definitely more aware. "They're showcasing or shining a light on these issues, whether it be LGBTQ, whether it be equal pay, whether it be sexual harassment," Ellis said of her team. Stream Alex Morgan: The Equalizer on ESPN+ (U.S.)īut most games involving this team, even its biggest games, are about much more than soccer.Įllis leaves as the most successful coach in team history, but she should also be recognized for her efforts to ensure that her players had the opportunity to express themselves with the loudest possible megaphone. ![]() Legacy secured, Jill Ellis walks away from game she loves USWNT coach Ellis open to men's game switch attacks crashed against the South Korean goal in the closing minutes. This friendly was much more about the emotional on-field pregame ceremony with Ellis and her family than any outcome, even as that result snapped the team's 17-game winning streak. She saw swaths of the crowd wearing white in response to Megan Rapinoe's social media call-to-arms for gender equality. women's national team after Sunday's 1-1 draw with South Korea, which marked just the 26th time in 132 games that her team did anything other than win, she could hear fans chanting "equal pay" in support of a lawsuit current players filed against U.S. And even as she walked away from the U.S. She understood her players' need to speak up. The years that followed offered everything from protests during the national anthem to White House feuds to collective bargaining battles to debates about the sportsmanship of scoring too many goals against Thailand in the 2019 Women's World Cup and not enough against Sweden in the 2016 Summer Olympics.Įllis took charge of a generation of American women increasingly committed to expanding their reach beyond the field. head coach in 2014, the national team and social advocacy were virtually inseparable.Ī few months after Ellis was hired, Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan were part of a group of players who filed suit over the use of artificial turf in the 2015 Women's World Cup. Jill Ellis' winning legacy? Giving USWNT a bigger voice, on and off the fieldįrom almost the moment Jill Ellis signed on as the U.S. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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