USWNT: Head Coach Tom Sermanni Sent Packing

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(April 8, 2014)-With just fifteen months remaining until the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada, U.S. Soccer decided this weekend that changes needed to be made regarding the U.S. Women's national team. Tom Sermanni, who took over the team at the beginning of 2012, was relieved of his duties by U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati on Sunday night after a 2-0 win against China in Denver.

Gulati delivered the news to Sermanni shortly after the game Sunday night and has appointed Jill Ellis, a long time assistant with the team as the interim head coach while the search begins for a new coach.

Gulati spoke yesterday in a conference call and addressed some of the reasons for the surprising firing of Sermanni who is highly regarded amongst coaches.

“We thought Tom (Sermanni) was the best candidate when we hired him and in terms of the record, it was quite good….I think it’s probably three or four things. One of those is the subjective evaluation of where the team is going and heading and that’s something that (U.S. Soccer CEO) Dan (Flynn) and I talked a lot about. Two is talking with people in and around the team. Whenever we have changes or possible changes or directional changes, whatever one you want to call it, with our National Team program we do that quite a bit. We talk to players, we talk to staff, we talk to people who observe the team and we also rely on our own assessment. Third, of course, the results at the Algarve weren’t what we had hoped for. The standards for this team are very high."

The Americans had a historically poor showing at the Algarve Cup in Portugal last month, placing 7th in a tournament that they have won nine times. Sermanni has spent the last several months trying out various new lineups that blend a mix of veterans as well as incorporates many of the players that will be the future of the U.S. team. There has been some speculation that some of the veteran players were not content with seeing some of their playing time shortened. Gulati also addressed those rumors yesterday.

"We’ve had discussions with players, with staff, with people around the team and observed ourselves, so this isn’t a group of players coming to seek us out and saying, ‘There’s something wrong and we need to do something.’ That’s not what the underlying issue was here.”

Sermanni for his part has handled his sudden departure with class, though he admits he was surprised by the news.

''I was completely blindsided,'' Sermanni told SI.com in an interview on Sunday night. ''Maybe I'm losing my intuitive and perception skills, but I didn't sense a real unease in the team. But I could be wrong in that regard.''

FIFA released the new world rankings on March 28th and while the U.S. Women still maintain the top spot, the gap between them and Germany sits at only 24 points. Japan, France and Sweden are just a few more points behind.

The U.S. Women will finish their two game series with China in San Diego on Thursday April 10.  Their next friendly will take place in Canada in early May, though Gulati indicated in his comments yesterday that there would be no rush to appoint a new coach by then. Yet with qualifying for the World Cup to begin in only six months, it should be expected that a new coach will be in place by June.

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