After surprising early World Cup exit, where does U.S. go from here?

It was widely acknowledged that the United States Women's National Team was going to have a difficult time becoming the first country to win three World Cups in a row.

But few expected that after just one knockout-round match, we would already be in post-mortem mode, trying to dissect the path forward for a suddenly vulnerable team.

The USA is out, after losing on penalties to Sweden in the round of 16, their worst World Cup ever. It's rare to see a door close so definitively on any team's era, but you can feel the changing of the guard happening right now for the USWNT.

Megan Rapinoe has retired. Julie Ertz has retired. Alex Morgan isn't retiring, but given that she'll be 38 years old in four years, we've likely seen her last World Cup game.

"The kids are taking over," said Rapinoe postgame, and that's the truth of the matter. Naomi Girma was the standout player for the USA, at center back, and at just 23 years old is set to be the team's defensive foundation for a decade. The team has a ton of young attackers; Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, and Alyssa Thompson are all 22 and under. Throw in the injured Mallory Swanson (25) and Catarina Macario (23), and there is plenty of youth up front.

Who will lead them is another matter. The one big change that the USWNT figures to make is finding a new coach. Vlatko Andonovski hasn't been let go yet, but U.S. Soccer technical director Matt Crocker may just be waiting for his plane to land back in the United States before firing him. It'd be a shock to see the coach survive this result, especially after the USA looked so tactically outmatched for much of the tournament.

There's no telling where the new coach will come from. Andonovski was a well-respected NWSL coach, one who won titles with Kansas City and then made the playoffs with OL Reign. Would Crocker go down the same path again, and hire Laura Harvey, the current Reign coach, who was perhaps the runner-up for the job in 2019?

U.S. Soccer might instead decide to look to Europe — perhaps Juventus coach Joe Montemurro, who was rumored to be in consideration last time around. They could try to shoot the moon and poach Chelsea's Emma Hayes. Or would Crocker, who is still fairly new to U.S. Soccer, go off the board and try to bring in someone totally out of left field?

Regardless of who the new coach is, they'll be getting a slightly different development system than past coaches.

The USA got a development head start on the rest of the world, thanks to college soccer, and managed to keep that going by launching the NWSL, which once was the best club league in the world.

Now, the top club teams in Europe may have surpassed the best of the NWSL. What America does have going for it is depth — and expansion. The NWSL is adding two teams for 2024, bringing the league to 14. The USL is launching its own professional league, the USL Super League, and is planning a dozen or so new teams of its own.

If it all comes to fruition, that will mean the number of pro teams in the U.S. will double in a single season. That's double the number of players who will have a chance to get regular high-level playing time.

One advantage that women's soccer has over men's soccer is that it has two major tournaments, the World Cup and the Olympics — and Paris 2024 is already less than a year away. The USA hasn't won Olympic gold for a dozen years, and so — twelve months from now — they'll have a chance to erase some of the bad memories from this summer.

They'll likely be doing it with a new coach employing new tactics and without some of the faces we know from the last trophy-winning USWNT teams.

We no longer have to wonder if the rest of the world is going to catch the USA. Now, we'll have to see if the USA can find a way to keep up.