Jill Ellis is the head coach of the United States National Women’s Soccer Team. She has helped the team win a World Cup. Or did she? Some fans are starting to think that Ellis didn't do anything except inherit an already World Cup-ready team. Ellis inherited a team full of some the best players that US Soccer has ever seen, like Abby Wambach, Christie Rampone, Hope Solo, and Lauren Holiday. Not to mention the rest of the squad was full of veteran players like Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, Ali Krieger, and Megan Rapinoe and since the World Cup win, she has changed the team on all fronts and can barely keep up with some of the best teams in the world right now.

She took one of the best defensive teams to being one of the worst. Which leaves fans wondering did she get lucky or is she some sort of undercover genius?

The good decisions

Since the World Cup, Ellis has indeed had some downs and some ups. Let’s start with the ups. She has brought in some promising youth to the National Team to fill the holes that now-retired players filled like Abby Wambach, Christie Rampone, Lauren Holiday, Shannon Boxx, Lori Chalupnly, Whitney Engen, and technically Hope Solo. Now, young players like Mallory Pugh, Lindsey Horan, Andi Sullivan, and Jane Campbell have made a great impact on the National team.

The bad decisions

Despite the successful insertion of the new generation of players, Ellis’s other decisions have been very poor, and the results have shown it.

Ellis’s first big test since the World Cup was the Olympics and the team did qualify, but they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Olympics. This is the lowest the United States Women's National Soccer Team has ever placed in the Olympics. Usually, they at least make it to a medal game.

Since then, Ellis has inserted some more new players on the team and fans are questioning why some players are getting a call and others aren’t.

For example, Abby Dahlkemper is a defender for the North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League and now National Team center back. She looked promising in the beginning, but now she has been faltering in every game so far in the new year and yet she still has a starting spot on the team. Now a player that some fans think deserves that spot is Emily Menges, a defender for the Portland Thorns.

Menges is one of the best defenders in the NWSL and the past two years have easily been her best with winning the NWSL Shield in 2016 and an NWSL Championship in 2017. Yet Ellis has not called up Menges and decides to keep calling in Dahlkemper. Another bad decision on Ellis’s part was a point last year where Ellis was experimenting with a three back with a player, Allie Long, playing center back who had no experience playing center back except in practice. That proved fatal for the US who ended up placing last in the She Believes Cup. It's a tournament that US Soccer created, and we had won the previous year.

So, what do you think? Is Ellis an undercover genius or a one-hit wonder?
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