Word broke on Twitter late Sunday evening that US Women's National Team head coach Tom Sermanni was fired from the team. Speculation quickly began to fly around at the sudden firing. The team had a dreadful showing at the Algrave Cup, finishing seventh, the worst place ever for the team in the tournament. Yet earlier on the day of his firing the team had won 2-0 over China.
"We want to thank Tom for his service over the past year and half, but we felt that we needed to go in a different direction at this time," U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said Sunday night in a press release. "We will begin looking for a new coach immediately to guide our Women's National Team toward qualifying for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup."
U.S. Soccer Director of Development Jill Ellis will serve as interim head coach while U.S. Soccer looks for a new coach to lead the team.
The Houston Dash currently have two players on the national team, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg. Both players had seen an increase in time on the field as Sermanni like to rotate his squad rather than keeping a static roster as had been the case with previous regimes.
The women's team face China again this Thursday.