TOKYO —
About 30 minutes before Vlatko Andonovski’s biggest game as coach of the women’s national soccer team, he left his players in the locker room so he could pace the well-manicured grass in an empty Yokohama National Stadium, head down, hands clasped behind his back.
It’s a practice he began back home in Kansas City, where long walks around the neighborhood have provided an opportunity to think and reflect. And Andonovski had a lot to think and reflect about because if his team didn’t win its quarterfinal with the Netherlands in the Tokyo Olympics on Friday, he would be headed back to Kansas City earlier than expected.