United States midfielder Lindsey Horan’s second-half equalizer against the Netherlands last week in the group stage of the 2023 World Cup was a quintessential moment of a captain dragging her team out of the muck of a poor performance to salvage a draw.
Those moments are what the world sees, but the everyday duties of a captain take place away from the public eye: meeting with coaches, meeting with teammates, and – critically – serving as the conduit between them.
“Making sure we take care of every little thing,” Horan said on Thursday about what the USA’s leaders, which include co-captain Alex Morgan, are doing behind the scenes. Horan spoke to the media Thursday as another part of her captaincy duties. Two days after the USA eked into the round of 16 with a scoreless draw against Portugal, Horan fielded and carefully answered another barrage of questions about the team’s struggles. Those included a pointed question about former teammate turned pundit Carli Lloyd questioning the team’s mentality. Horan, who inherited the USA’s No 10 shirt from Lloyd in 2021, dismissed the criticism as outside “noise”.
Horan and Morgan stepped into the co-captaincy only a month ago to fill the significant void left by the absence of defender Becky Sauerbrunn, who missed the World Cup – what would have been her fourth – after sustaining a setback to a foot injury.
Sauerbrunn has been the team’s captain since January 2021, when US head coach Vlatko Andonovski selected her for the role. Sauerbrunn and Andonovski have worked together for over a decade, since their days as the foundation of the now defunct FC Kansas City in the National Women’s Soccer League. Their careers are intrinsically intertwined, each serving as a major reason for the other being where they are today.
With that comes a level of trust that is difficult – if not impossible – to replicate. Sauerbrunn serves as a liaison between Andonovski and the rest of the team. She understands the coach deeply in a way that operated as almost a player-coach on the field. Her absence at this World Cup, while not front of mind, cannot be understated as the USA tried to correct disjointed and individualistic performances.
“Becky is someone that I bounce lots of ideas off, lots of things,” Andonovski said in an interview conducted the day before Sauerbrunn’s setback in June. “If I have a question or if I’m not sure about something, I bounce it off of Becky. Even simple questions. Literally, right now, I called her yesterday afternoon and I said, ‘Hey Becky, tell me what you hear when I say this.’ It’s a great understanding of – she feels safe telling me what she feels knowing that there won’t be any repercussion no matter what. She’s not afraid of telling me things that I sometimes don’t want to hear.”
That understanding is reciprocal, Sauerbrunn said earlier this year. It also pays dividends to the team at large. Andonovski is known as a very direct communicator, a coach who is brutally honest with the purpose of helping his players become better. Andonovski comes from a place of empathy, Sauerbrunn says, but sometimes he needs to refine the delivery. She has often helped with that.
“Vlatko knows what I’m about, I know what he’s all about, so I think it does afford us a bit more open communication,” Sauerbrunn said earlier this year. “When one of us is – not stepping out of bounds, but if I feel like he could be doing this and it would be perceived in a way that he doesn’t see it being perceived as, I can say that to him and I think he will trust me. Even though he doesn’t initially see it, I think he’ll trust that I’m hearing it this way so a lot of other people would be hearing it that way. I think that has helped us troubleshoot some issues through the years.”
Horan is now leading those efforts at the World Cup. The Lyon midfielder wears the armband on the field and has quickly become part of the veteran leadership group that is collectively guiding a team that is relatively inexperienced compared to past US sides. On Thursday, Horan said that she is “always” pulling players aside for individual conversations.
“I think it’s actually been a really cool experience and especially with some of the results not being our absolute best, or the way that we’ve played,” Horan said. “I think it’s really cool being able to recognize those things and being able to touch a few players here and there or the coaching staff and what we need and really find out what’s, what’s the best thing for this team right now.”
Horan said earlier in the tournament that she had heard from Sauerbrunn via text message.
“I wish you were there so bad, even for your leadership,” US forward Lynn Williams said on her co-hosted Snacks podcast before the tournament.
Sauerbrunn, however, is rehabbing in Portland and reacting to the World Cup on camera as part of the growing Men in Blazers network. Her absence from the team is not the reason the USA have struggled; arguably the most sure performances from the USA thus far have come from center-back duo Naomi Girma and Julie Ertz.
Undeniably, however, Sauerbrunn’s absence is felt as the USA navigate what Andonovski eventually called a “crap” performance against Portugal, and the ensuing wave of media criticism. Many US players are feeling the intensity of that spotlight for the first time, and it has put a significant leadership demand on the veterans to guide them through challenges. The group is also the link between Andonovski and the team at large. They are tasked with making sure the coach’s communication is fully understood.
On Friday, at the team’s first training in Melbourne, Australia, ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Sweden, Andonovski emerged from the stadium tunnel engaged in a conversation with Morgan. They walked onto the field together as talked over the task ahead. In this moment of adversity, the United States need their leaders. Sauerbrunn’s absence looms large, but Horan has embraced the pressure.
“Being the captain of this national team is one of the greatest honors of my life, my career, and it’s a lot to handle,” Horan said. “And that’s something that I’ve gotten up for. It’s my responsibility, and I know that, and I think I’ve actually done a really great job with Alex and some of the other leaders on this team.”
