The United States Women’s Under-23 team recently returned from a few weeks in Croatia, where they won the Istria Cup. At the tournament, which was essentially a youth national team international friendly competition, the American squad played three matches in just seven days. The Stars and Stripes went undefeated and picked up a pair of big wins against Slovenia (3-0) and France (2-0) en route to claiming the title.
Given the amount of travelling and time spent on the pitch, the staff needed to find a way accurately monitor fitness levels in order to effectively rotate players. With the help of Seattle Sounders Academy physiologist and fitness coach Brandon Moran, the national team staff used a blend of qualitative and quantitative data collection to compose individualized training and recovery sessions for each player.