Vlatko Andonovski: 'The moment I first sat in this chair, the pressure started'

The head coach of the US Women's National team spoke ahead of the team's

«The moment I sat in this chair in 2019 is when the pressure started,» says USA head coach Vlatko Andonovski just 24 hours before his team's decisive showdown against Portugal in group B. Despite currently sitting top of group E, the world's number one team are in a precarious position: if they lose to Portugal on Tuesday night, the team will be eliminated from the World Cup. A draw should be enough see them through but even so, the stakes are higher than Vlatko and his staff would have liked.

Despite that pressure, Andonvoski assured it's nothing he's not used to. «It's not like this is something new or something I wasn't aware of. I knew how this was going to be and I knew what the expectations were,» he said in Monday's press conference. «The only thing that has changed from 2019 to now is that I just learned how to turn the pressure into excitement. I didn't come into this World Cup thinking 'oh my gosh we're getting the chance to compete for a title'. We have a good team; we have a good squad; we have the resources… everything we need and we're doing well with this team,» he explained as calm and cool-headed as ever. Even if he was feeling pressure inside, it certainly didn't show.

Andonovski revealed that one of the principal techniques he uses tostave off the pressure is staying clear of social media and being selective of the information he consumes. «Now one thing that I do is that I don't have any social media, I don't read anything. Our press officer is my main source of information. When we were driving here, we were actually talking about it. He shared some things with me, and I was like 'woah when did this happen'». He's been very good